^>. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


// 


1.0 


I.I 


%k    12.5 


■30 


I  us    12.0 


IL25  i  1.4 


liil 

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1.6 


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PliDtcgraphic 

Sciences 

CoTOoration 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRieT 

WEBSTIR.N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


^ 


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we  at 
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empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  seion  le 
ces:  ie  symbols  -^  signlfie  "A  8UIVRE".  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN  ". 


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required.  The  following  diegrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


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reproduit  en  un  seul  clichi,  II  est  film*  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArleur  geuche,  de  geuche  A  drolte, 
et  de  haut  en  bee,  en  prenent  le  nombre 
d'Images  nAcesseire.  lies  diegrammes  suivants 
iliustrent  le  mithode. 


1 

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1 

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mm 


AN 


K-.'-^f^) 


ESSAY 


OM  X 


UNIFORM  ORTHOGRAPHY 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES 


01 


NORTH  AMERICA. 


AS  PUULISIIED  IN  THE  MEMOIK#  OF  THE  AMERICAN'  ACADEMY 


OF  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES. 


BY  JOIIN  PICKERING,  A.  A.  S. 


CAMIUIIDGK  J 

(JXIV.  I'RESS-HJLI.IAHD  AND  METCALF. 


W  -.J 


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4 


ESSAY  .^c. 


J.T  is  remarked  by  Sir  William  Jones,  in  his  elegant  DisseV' 
tation  on  the  Orthography  of  Jlsiatick  Words,  that  "  every  man, 
who  has  occasion  to  compose  tracts  on  Asiatick  literature,  or  to 
translate  from  the  Asiatick  languages,  must  always  find  it  conve- 
nient and  sometimes  necessary,  to  express  Arabian,  Indian,  and 
Persian  words  or  sentences,  in  the  characters  generally  nsgd 
among  Europeans  ;  and  almost  every  writer  in  those  circumstan* 
ces  has  a  method  of  notation  peculiar  to  himself :  But  none  has 
yet  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  complete  system,  so  that  each  ori- 
ginal sound  may  be  rendered  invariably  by  one  appropriate  sym- 
bol, conformably  to  the  natural  order  of  articulation,  and  with  a 
due  regard  to  the  primitive  power  of  the  Uoman  alphabet,  which 
modern  Europe  has  in  general  adopted."  This  accomplished 
scholar  then  adds — that  "  a  want  of  attention  to  this  object  has 
occasiioned  great  confusion  in  History  and  Geography  ;"  and  <■'  that 
the  ancient  Greeks,  who  made  a  voluntary  sacrifice  of  truth  to 
the  delicacy  of  their  ears,  appear  to  have  altered  by  design  al- 
most all  the  oriental  names,  which  they  introduced  into  their  ele- 
gant, but  romantick  histories  :  and  even  their  more  modern  Geo- 
graphers, who  were  too  vain,  perhaps,  of  their  own  language  to 

1 


\y -^ 


3 


Mr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 


I, 


learn  any  other,  have  so  strangely  disguised  the  proper  appella- 
tions of  countries,  cities,  an<l  rivers  in  Asia,  that,  without  the 
guidance  of  the  sagacious  and  indefatigable  M.  D'dni'ille,  it 
>vould  have  been  as  troublesome  to  follow  Alexander  through  the 
Punjab  on  the  Ptolcmaick  map  of  Jlgnthodifmonf  as  actually  to 
travel  over  the  same  country  in  its  present  state  of  rudeness  and 
disorder."* 

The  inconveniences  and  confusion,  which  are  here  so  strik- 
ingly described  in  the  case  of  the  Aaiatick  languages,  arc  now 
beginning  to  be  experienced  by  writers  upon  the  Languages 
and  History  of  the  Indian  nations  of  America.  In  this  latter 
case,  however,  we  are  relieved  from  one  embarrassment,  which 
is  felt  in  (he  case  of  the  Asiatick  tongues  ;  for  in  those,  as 
there  is  already  a  written  character,  and  an  established  alpha- 
betic arrangement  of  the  elementary  sounds,  which  does  not  in 
eVtry  instance  correspond  with  the  order  of  our  Roman  alpha- 
bet, we  experience  a  constant  struggle. in  the  mind,  when  we 
attempt  to  write  Asiaticle  words  in  our  letters,  arising  from  that 
natural  desire  which  we  feel  to  represei.t  each  Asiatick  character 
by  one  of  our  own,  which  occupies  the  same  place  in  the  alphabtt- 
ic  list.  But  in  the  languages  of  the  American  Indians,  we  have 
only  to  ascertain,  in  the  first  place,  every  elementary  sound,  and 
then  arrange  tlie  letters,  by  which  we  may  choose  to  represent  those 
sounds,  in  the  order  of  our  own  alphabet. 

Until  within  a  few  years  past,  indeed,  these  neglected  dia- 
lects,  like  the  devoted  race  of  men,  who  iiave  spoken  them  for  so 
many  ages,  abd  who  have  bceu  stripped  of  almost  every  fragment  of 

•  Oissertation  on  t'lr  Ortliopraphy  of  Asiatick  wnnk  in  Romun  letters ;  in  Sir  W.  Jonei's 
Works,  vol.  i.  p.  I7i,  -Ito  edit.  ;  anil  i;i  llie  Asiatic  Kcsewclics,  vjl.  i.  p.  1. 


Indian  Languages  in  J\*orth  America,  8 

their  paternal  inheritanco  except  their  language,  have  incurred 
only  the  contempt  of  the  people  of  Europe  and  their  descend- 
ants on  this  continent;  all  of  whom,  with  less  justice  than  is 
commonly  suppo«".!vl,  have  proudly  hoasted  of  the  superiority 
of  thair  own  more  cultivated  languages  as  well  as  more  civilized 
manners.  But,  at  length,  in  consequence  of  the  impulse  origin- 
ally given  by  the  £:nprcfls  Catlierine  of  Russia,  and  subsequent- 
ly by  the  illustrious  Adelung,  Vater,  and  other  German  liteiati, 
'whose  indefatigable  diligence  and  zeal  will  not  suffer  the  remot- 
est corner  of  the  globe  nor  the  most  uninviting  department  of  hu- 
man knowledge  to  remain  unexplored,  we  are  beginning  to  in- 
quire into  the  history  and  character  of  our  degraded  fellow-meu 
of  this  continent,  and  to  investigate  the  wonderful  structure  of 
their  various  dialects  ;  which,  indeed,  to  the  philosophical  inquir- 
er, will  now  perhaps  be  found  to  be  the  most  curious  and  interest* 
iug  of  all  the  languages  of  man.* 

»  My  learned  friend,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  first  directed  my  attention  to  tliu 
fact  here  stated  respecting  the  Empress  Catlierine  ;  and  I  am  indebted  to  him  for 
the  perusal  of  tiiat  interesting  account  of  the  eminent  services  rendered  to  lite- 
rature by  this  extroardinary  princess,  entitled  «*  Catherinens  der  Grossen  Ver- 
diciiste  um  die  Vergleichcnde  Sprachenkunde  :"  wliicli  may  be  rendered,  The 
Meriis  of  Catherine  the  Great  in  promoting  the  Comparative  Science  of  Lan- 
guages. This  work  was  published  at  St.  Petersburg  in  the  year  1815,  by  the 
Hon.  Frederick  Adelung,  whom  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  in  his  Report  on  the  Indian 
Languages  (p.  six  )  states  to  be  "  the  nepiiew  and  worthy  successor  of  the  great 
Adcluug,"  and  "  not  inferior  to  his  predecessor."  The  volume  contains  a  par- 
ticular account  of  the  extensive  plan  of  the  Empress,  and  the  measures  taken  by 
her  to  obtain  vocabularies  of  all  the  languages  in  the  world.  She  directed  her 
Sec.etary  of  .State  to  write  to  the  powers  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America;  and 
application  was  accordingly  made  to  President  VVabhiugton  for  our  Indian  Ian- 


4  M:  Pickerins; onthe  Orthngraphijofthe 

The  first  fruits  of  these  inquiries  in  tlic  United  Statt-s  have 
been  the  able  and  philosophical  investigations  of  Mr.  Du  Ponceau^ 


« 


guagcs  ;  several  specimens  of  wliicli  were  accorJingly  niinislu'il.     Hut  wliat  will 
most  surprise  the  leaiier  will  be,  to  learn  that  the  Kmpie«s  licrsfll' actually  l)ej|;aii 
the  labour  of  this  coiiipariiion  of  laiiguaa;es.     In  p  letter  to   the  telolirated   Ziiu- 
meriiian,  duteil  May  9,   I .'85,  she  says — "  Your  letter  ilrew  iiic  IVom  the  retire- 
ment in  which  1  had  kept  myself  fur  almost  nine  months,  and  which  it  wa^  dilfi- 
cult  for  me  to  reliii()uisli.      You  wilt  hardly  suspect  what  I  was  tinployeil  about 
in  my  solitude.      I  made  a  list  of  between  two  and  three  hundred  railical  wordi 
of  the  Uussiian  language,  and  had  them  translated  into  every   tongue  and  Jargon 
that  I  could  hear  of;  the  number  of  which  already  exceeds  two  hunilred.     Every 
day  I  took  one  of  these  words  and  wrote  it  down  in  all  the  languages  I  had  been 
able  to  collect I  grew  tired  of  thi:^  hobby,  as  soon  as   the  book  upon  Soli- 
tude   was   read    through.      But  as  I  felt  some  regret  at  committing  to  the  fl.imos 
my  great  mass  of  papers,  and  the  long  hull,  which  I  occupied  in  my  hernntage, 
was  quite  warm  enough,  1  requested  Professor  Pallas  to  attend  me,  and  after  a 
full  confession  of  this  sin  of  mine,  it  was  agreed   between   us  that  these  transla- 
tions should  be  printed,  and  thus  made  of  some  use  to  those  persons,  who  might  be 
willing  to  occupy  themselves  with  the  idle  labours  of  others.      We  arc  now  only 
waiting,  witii  that  view,  for  some  specimens  of  the  dialects   of  Ea.«tcrn  Siberia. 
Whether  the  reader  shall  or  shall  not  find  in  the  work,  striking  facts  of  various 
kinds,  will  depend  upon  the  feelings  with  which  he   enters  upon  tlie  subject,  and 
is  a  matter  of  little  concern  to  me."— p.  40.      Professor   Pallas  accordingly   in- 
formed the   public   of  Her  Majesty  s  intentions  ;  stating   (among   other  things) 
that  "  she  had  herself  made  a  selection  of  such  "vords  as  were  the  most  essential, 
and  generally  in  use  even  among  the  best  civilr/.ed  nations In  that  selec- 
tion the  preference  was  given  to  substantives  and  aojectives  of  the  first  necessity, 
and  which  are   common   to   the   most  barbarous  of  languages,  or  which  serve  to 
trace  the  progress  of  agriculture  or  of  any  arts  or  elementary  knowledge  from  one 
people  to  another.     The  pronouns,  adverbs,  and  some  verbs  and  numerals,  whose 
great  utility  in  the  comparison  of  languages  is  acknowledged,  were  al^o  admitted 
into  the  collection,  in  order  to  render  this  Glossary  mure  complete  and  more  in> 
structivc." 


:;;■«: 


u 


Indian  Languages  in  JVorth  America. 


and  the  interesting  woik  of  his  experienced  and  worthy  fellow-la- 
bourer, the  Ri>v.  Air.  lleckewelder.  Tliese  publications  alone, 
which  are  too  well  known  to  need  a  more  particular  notice  in  this 
place,  abundantly  show,  what  a  vast  field  is  now  opening  to  those 
who  wish  to  search  into  the  philosophy  of  lani;iiai!;o,  and  to  study 
man  through  the  medium  of  his  noblest  and  peculiar  faculty  of 
speech  ;  and,  at  the  same  time  that  they  do  honour  to  our  country, 
they  will  be  read  by  the  scholars  of  Knrope,  especially  the  learned 
(jermans,  with  all  that  avidity  which  the  characters  of  tlieir  authori^ 
will  naturally  excite.  For  my  own  part,  I  acknowledge,  that  they 
have  occasioned  my  taking  a  deeper  interest  in  this  apparently 
dry  and  barren  suliject,  than  I  could  have  believed  to  be  possible 
in  any  one,  however  devoted  he  might  be  to  philological  pursuits  ; 
and  I  have,  in  conscipience,  been  for  a  time  allured  from  old  and 
favourite  studies,  to  which  I  had  intended  to  allot  the  whole  of 
that  little  leisiiro  whicli  1  rnnUl  spare  from  the  duties  of  my  pro- 
fession. 

At  the  very  commencement  of  my  inquiries,  however,  T  found 
my  progress  impeded  by  a  capricious  and  ever  varying  orthogra- 
phy of  the  Indian  languages,  not  only  among  the  writers  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  but  even  among  those  of  the  same  country.  I  have, 
therefore,  while  examining  words  in  one  Indian  dialect  with  a 
view  to  comparing  them  with  those  of  another,  been  obliged  to 
employ  much  time  in  first  settling  the  spelling  of  a  xcritten  word, 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  sound  of  the  spoken  word  ;  when  I  ought 
to  have  found  nothing  more  to  be  necessary  than  to  make  the  com- 
parison, which  I  happened  to  have  in  view,  between  words  whose 
sounds  hIioiiI.I  have  presented  themselves  upon  the  first  inspection 
of  their  tcritten  characters.  But  with  the  present  irregular  mode 
ot  writing  Indian  words,  unless  a  reader  is  conversant  with  the 


r 


mSm 


ii 


B  Mr.  ricli-cnugon  the  0)'thn(;raphij  of  t lie 

several  lungun^cs  of  the  nutliors,  wIiumc  reinarkH  upon  the  IiuUad 
tliulcclij  nny  I'lill  within  his  oh.serviitioii   (which  rcinnriifl  too  arc 
often  rendered  still  i'urllior  unintclli^ihle  hy  bcih!;  read  in  a  trans- 
lation) he  will  be  very  liiiely  to  iin.ii^ine,  that  tlie  wur<U  of  a  sin- 
gle dialect,  as  he  sees  them  written  by  a  (ierman,   a  Frenchman, 
or  an  Englishman,  l)elnng   to  languages  an    \iiilely    different  as 
those  of  his  several  authors.       Wiien,  for  example,  a  mere  Kng< 
lish  reader  linds  the  familiar  names  of  the  Creeks  and   the  ChoC' 
taws,  the  Wabaifh  and  the  WuHhita,  with  many  others,  disguised 
by  the   French    writers   under  tlie  strange  garb  of  h'riqitps,  and 
TchuctaSf  Ouabache  and  Ouachita,  Sac. ;  and,  among  the  German 
authors,  the  letters  O,  J,  T,  and  Z  used  to  express  sounds  which 
wc  should  denote  by  C,  Y,  D,  and  TH,  as  in  the  words  Ganata 
for  Canada,  Japewi  for  Yapi'tci,  »\*'mizi  for  ^*^meet»ee,  with  in- 
numerable others  ;  (to  say  nothing  of  the  totally  different  sounds 
from  ours  usually  given  l»y  foreign  writers  to  all  tlie  vnwph  of  the 
lloman  alphabet', — when  a  mere  English  reader,  I  say,  finds  the 
very  same  words  thus  variously  written,  he  will  at  first  view  sup- 
pose that  they  arc  the  names  and  languages  of  so  many  different 
tribes  of  Indians.* 

•  In  addition  to  these  national  ditrcrencrs  of  oi  tliogrnphy,  the  Kcv.  Mr. 
lleckcwehlcr  (in  replj  to  Mr.  Du  I'oiiceau*!*  in(|uiries  lospccting  the  ortliographj 
of  tlie  German  writers)  mentions  a  very  singular  reason  for  tlic  irregularities  ob- 
scrvahit;  in  their  use  of  the  letters  c,g,  and  k  :  "  Sometimes  (says  he)  the  letters 
c  and  g  are  used  in  writing  the  Delaware  language  instead  »(  k,  to  shew  that  this 
consonant  is  not  pronounced  too  hard  ;  but,  in  f^eiifrat.  c  and  g  have  been  used  as 
substitutes  for  k,  because  our  printers  had  not  a  sufficient  supply  of  tijjxsfor 
that  character"  Correspondence  of  Ifeckeivelder  and  Du  Ponceau,  p.  38!2.  The 
state  of  our  country  at  the  present  day  is  such,  that  (liis  will  no  longer  be  an  apol- 
ogy for  the  irregularity  in  question.  It  may  be  added,  as  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  justlj 
remarks  in  a  letter  to  me,  that  "  a  German  ear,  unless  very  delicate,  dues  not 
ordinarily  discriminate  between  k  or  c  hard,  and  g,  between  p  and  b,  nor  between 
d  and  t,    To  a  German  only  would  it  have  occuired,  to  substitute  g  (ork." 


I; 


I 

r: 


Indian  Languages  in  *Yorth  Jlmerica. 


fro 


The  perplexity  I  felt  fioin  tliii^  uncertainty  in  our  Indian  or- 
lliu|;rapliy,  whicli  80  much  increases  the  liibuur  uf  Htudics  th;;t 
arc  in  llicmsetves  sufllcicntly  dry  and  forbidding  to  most  persons, 
led  me  to  consider  more  particuhuly  tlmn  I  liad  ever  before  done, 
tlio  expediency  of  adopting  a  nuij'ovm  ortkngvajihii  for  the  Indian, 
as  well  as  other  languages,  wliicli  have  no  established  vvrilteri 
characters  ;  and  I  now  beg  leave  to  submit  to  tiic  Academy  the 
few  reflections  which  have  occurred  to  mo  on  this  suliject.  Im- 
perfect and  little  interesting  as  the  remarks  may  be,  they  will 
bu  received,  I  have  no  duubt,  with  all  that  candour  to  which 
they  may  lie  entitled.*  They  will  have  produced  some  good,  if  they 
should  stimulate  any  of  my  countrymen,  who  have  more  leisure 
and  more  favournble  opportunities  than  fall  to  my  lot,  to  pursue  the 
inquiry  ;  an  inquiry,  which,  while  it  promotes  the  common  cause 
of  learning,  is  peculiarly  within  the  province  of  American  schol- 
ars, and  will  richly  reward  us  in  the  honour  we  shall  acquire  with 
the  learned  of  Burope  ;  who,  it  should  be  remembered,  have  a 
right  to  expect  from  us,  and  are  eagerly  looking  for  every  species 
of  information  respecting  this  continent. 

Nor  will  (iihcussions  relative  to  the  languages  of  the  Americaa 
Indians  be  among  tlie  least  interesting  which  we  can  ofifer  to  Euro- 
peans, or  the  least  important  in  themselves.  For,  if  the  origin  of 
the  population  of  this  Continent  is,  as  all  admit,  a  most  interest- 
ing and  important  question  ;  and  if  we  can  more  successfully  ar- 
rive at  the  solution  of  it,  by  tracing  the  progress  of  (he  various 
nations  uf  men   over  difl'erent   regions  of  the  globe,  through  the 

•  Those,  who  are  acciuainted  with  Mr.  I)u  Ponceau's  Essay  on  Knulish  Pho- 
nolojjy  (and  no  scholar  in  our  country  is  ignorant  of  that  valuahle  publication) 
will  perceive,  that  the  present  paper  is  only  an  application  of  the  general  princi- 
ples which  are  there  stated,  to  the  class  uf  the  Indian  Languages. 


f 


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I 

I 

i 


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8  Mr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 

medium  of  their  lanj^uai^cs,  than  ia  any  other  manner  (whicn 
every  day's  expcrieiicf  riMnhM-s  more  and  more  probable) ;  thea 
it  is  undeniable,  that  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  languages  of  a 
people,  who  were  formerly  the  possessors  of  one  entire  hemi- 
sphere, is  a  sniyect  of  pjreat  moment  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  old 
as  well  as  the  new  wtirld.  And,  as  naturalists  are  now  investi- 
gating the  structure  and  liitstory  of  the  globe  itself,  by  collecting 
fragments  of  the  component  parts,  from  the  summits  of  its  moun- 
tains to  the  depths  of  its  seas,  so  we  must  study  the  constitution 
and  history  of  its  possessor,  man,  by  collecting  specimens  of  him, 
especially  of  his  distinguishing  charactcristick,  language,  from  the 
most  remote  and  barbarous,  as  well  as  the  must  refined  portions 
of  the  race  ;  specimens,  which,  indeed,  with  our  present  limited 
knowledge,  seem  to  be  dispersed  over  the  earth  in  as  extraordina- 
ry a  manner,  and  in  situations  where  we  should  as  little  expect  to 
find  them,  as  the  fragments  of  animal  and  vegetable  nature  which  we 
meet  with  in  the  reces^-es  of  the  earth.  For,  us  we  find  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  ocean  upon  the  heights  of  our  mountains,  so  we 
discover,  for  example,  fragments  of  tlie  remote  Asiatick  languages 
imbedded,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  in  tiiose  of  the  most  dis- 
tant  extremities  of  Europe  ;  as  of  the  Sanscrit  in  the  Hussian* 
and  other  western  tongues  ;  and  sometimes  we  •find  an  entire 
language  spoken  !)y  a  small  body  of  people  in  the  midst  of  vari- 
ous others,  yet  totally  distinct  in  all  respects  (s,-;  far  as  we  are  yet 
informed)  from  the  languages  by  which  it  is  thus  surnninded;  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Basque  language  in  S[)ain,  which,  as  philologists 
inform  us,  has  no  perceptible  aftinity  with  any  of  the  neighbouring 
European  tongues. f 

•  Ra|)i)nr(s  rntie  la  laii:;ue  Sansciit  ot  la  limine  Uii«i»e.    Pctcrsliursr,  1811. 
t  Sec  Mr.  Du  t'ouceau's  liepuit  on  tlie  liicli.iii  I,;iii";ua"es.  y.  xxxix. 


«t:- 


*. 


-  SRSF 


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tik    y* 


k 


■■*; 


IiuJian  Languages  in  ^orth  Jlmerica,  0 

But,  in  order  that  wc  may  successfully  penetrate  into  this 
unexplored  region  of  languages  as  barbarous  and  foreign  to  our 
modes  of  thinking,  as  the  manners  of  the  uncivilized  people  who 
use  them,  it  is  indispensable  that  we  should  adopt  every  pvacti> 
cable  expedient  to  render  our  progress  easy  and  pleasant.  Now 
nothing  is  more  clearly  necessary  at  the  very  beginning,  than 
some  common  and  sijstematic  method  of  writing  them;  whether 
our  object  is,  to  enable  the  learned  of  other  countries  and  our 
own  to  study  and  compare  the  numerous  varieties  of  human 
speech  with  all  that  exactness,  which  is  essential  to  accurate  and 
useful  results,  or  whether  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  more  prac- 
tical  purpose  of  possessing  the  means  of  communication  with  the 
various  tribes  on  our  borders,  either  with  a  view  to  the  common 
concerns  of  life  or  the  diffusion  of  the  principles  of  our  religion 
among  them  ;  and  any  investigation,  which  is  so  intimately  con. 
nected  as  this  with  results  of  such  importance,  will  not  be 
thought  unworthy  of  the  attention  of  our  countrymen.  Nor  will 
they,  1  trust,  need  further  incitement  to  prosecute  any  inquiries 
whatever,  minute  as  they  may  at  first  view  appear,  to  whieh  men 
of  so  much  distinction  in  the  literary  world,  as  Count  Yolney 
among  tiie  French  and  the  incomparable  Sir  William  Jones 
among  the  English,  have  given  importance  and  dignity  by  their 
laborious  aud  learned  researches.* 

•  Count  Volney's  elaborate  work,  entitled  VAlfabet  Eitropeen  applijur  anot 
Fjingups  .Isiatiques,  8vo.  pp.  223  (for  the  use  of  wliicli  I  have  been  indebteil  to 
Mr.  l)u  I'oiiceau  since  this  paper  was  first  communicated  to  the  Academy)  was 
published  at  I'aris  in  1819.  The  Dissertation  of  Sir  >Viiliam  Jones,  which  I  iiave 
already  quoted,  is  well  known  to  every  scholar. 


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iO  .^/r.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 

As  various  nations  of  Einope  have  already  published  and  will 
continue  to  publish  books  respcctint;  the  American  Indiana  and 
their  languages,  either  with  a  view  to  the  information  of  the 
learned  or  to  the  propagation  of  the  Christian  religion,  it  is  ex- 
tremely desirable,  that  such  a  common  orthography  as  I  have 
mentioned  should  be  adopted.  This  would  enable  foreignrrs  to 
use  our  books  without  difliculty,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  make 
theirs  easy  of  access  to  us  ;  and  it  would  also  enable  the  mis- 
sionaries of  our  own  and  other  countries  (the  benevolent  Ger- 
mans, for  example,  who  have  been  so  long  engaged  in  this 
duty)  to  cooperate  with  the  more  effect  in  the  great  ol>ject  of  tlieir 
common  labours.  So  far  too  as  the  slud^'  of  philology  alone  is 
concerned,  Ave  should  derive  the  important  advantage  of  being 
ennbled  to  discover  at  once  by  the  eye,  etymologies  and  affinities 
in  the  Indian  dialects,  which  with  our  present  orthography  are 
only  discernible  by  the  ear. 

Now  what  are  called  vowel  sounds  constitute  an  important 
part  of  the  Indian,  as  well  as  other  languages.  In  English 
each  of  the  vowels,  according  to  its  place  in  a  word,  may  repre- 
sent sounds,  which  are  totally  different  from  each  other ;  and,  oo 
the  other  hand,  we  often  represent  one  single  sound  by  very  dif. 
ferent  vowels,  either  taken  by  themselves  or  in  combination  with 
other  letters.  Our  first  vowel  a,  for  example,  is  commonly  said  to 
have  no  less  than  four  distinct  powers,  which  are  exemplified  in 
the  words,  fall,  far,  fat,  fate  ;  and  therefore,  if  we  should  meet 
with  the  like  number  of  Indian  words,  in  which  this  vowel  was 
under  the  same  combinations  as  in  these  English  examples,  we 
should  naturally  pronounce  this  single  letter  a  (which  ought  to 
be  the  representative  of  only  one  sound)  in  four  different  ways. 
This  change  of  power  in  the  vowels;  it  is  well  known,  does  not 


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Indian  Languages  in  JSTorth  America. 


11 


take  place  in  the  languages  of  the  continental  nations  of  Europe  ; 
but  all  those  nations  (I  speak  in  general  termS;  without  noticing 
the  common  ilistinctious  of  acute,  grave,  and  circumflex  accents, 
and  other  slight  modifications  of  the  fundamental  sounds)  preserve 
"tvhat  may  he  called,  in  a  general  view  of  the  suhject,  a  uniform 
pronunciation  of  the  vowels  ;  a  pronunciation,  which  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  handed  down  to  our  own  times,  in  con- 
junction  with  the  letters  themselves,  from  the  Romans.  I  have 
always  thought,  therefore,  that  it  would  be  best  to  adopt  as  the 
basis  of  our  Indian  orthography,  what  we  call  the  foreign  sounds 
of  all  the  vowels  ;  that  is,  the  sounds  which  are  usuiUy  given  to 
them  by  those  European  nations,  with  whom  we  have  much  inter- 
course by  books  or  otherwise,  and  who,  like  ourselves,  use  the 
Moman  alphabet  in  their  own  languages.  I  speak  with  these 
limitations,  because  my  object  is  merely  practical ;  and,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  it  will  for  some  time  to  come  be  best  to  confine 
our  views  to  the  family  of  nations  I  have  here  mentioned,  and 
to  adopt  an  orthography,  which,  though  it  may  not  be  philosoph- 
ically exact,  shall  bo  attended  with  the  least  embarrassment  to 
them  and  ourselves  in  the  common  use  of  it.  We  can  hereafter 
either  modify  that  orthography,  or  adopt  a  new  one,  as  our  ex- 
tended intercourse  with  other  families  of  nations  may  be  found 
to  require. 

In  conformity  with  this  view  of  the  subject,  the  general  pro- 
nunciation of  the  vowels  will  be  as  follows  : 

a  as  in  father 

e  as  in  the%'e 

i  as  in  machine  (or  like  eej 

0  as  in  note 

n  as  in  rule  ^ 

y  as  in  you  (or  like  ee.J 


«" 


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f 


lit' 


■*r., 


smmiif 


IS 


Mr.  Pickci'ins;  on  the  Orthogvaphij  of  the 


!  ■  i 


.1  ,.' 


Otir  letter  ir  may  also  be  advaiitaseously  employed,  instead  of 
the  single  xt,  at  the  b('2;iuning  of  certain  syllables  Mhich  we 
should  othcruisc  write  with  no  ;  for,  if  the  combination  oo  should 
ha|)[)en  (o  precede  or  follow  a  single  o,  thus  oo-o  or  n-oo  (for  wo 
or  ate  J  it  makes  a  very  awkward  and  inconvenient  orthography  ; 
and  if  tlie  oo  should  precede  or  follow  another  combination  of  the 
same  kind,  thus  uo-oo  (foe  icnj  the  iuconveniencc  is  &till  more 
palpable.  Our  veueral)le  Elht,  whose  memory  will  ever  be 
revered  by  scholars  as  well  as  by  the  friends  of  religion,  both  in 
his  Indian  Grammar  and  his  Translation  of  the  Bible,  used  a 
character  composed  of  two  o  's  closely  united  thu'»(  oo)  reaenil)liug 
the  figure  8  laid  horizontally.  This  character  answers  extremely 
well ;  but  as  the  simple  u  or  w  would  always  supply  its  place, 
and  as  both  of  these  are  familiar  to  the  diilcreiit  nati(»ns  of 
Europe,  1  have  thought  we  might  dispense  with  the  character 
devised  by  Eliot.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  formerly  taught  their 
converts  to  denote  this  sound  by  the  Grerk  character  « ;  and  this 
is  accordingly  used  ihroughout  Father  Raters  MS.  Dictionary 
of  the  Noiridgwock,  or  rather  Abiiaki,  language,  now  preserved 
in  the  Library  of  our  University  in  Cambridge.  IJut,  for  the 
reasons  before  mentioned,  1  think  that  neither  this  nor  Eliot's 
character  will  be  found  necessary.* 

Such,  I  have  observed,  should  be  the  haais  of  our  Indian 
orthography.  Any  modifications  »»f  these  fundamental  sounds, 
whicli  may  be  discovered  in  the  diiTerent  Indian  languages,  may 
be  indicated  by  some  diacritical  marks  placed  a!>ove  or  below  the 
letter  which  is  employed  to  denote  the  fundamental  or  principal 
sound.  For  this  purpose  I  should  choyse,  if  practicable,  to  s  pt 
iRome  other  marks  than  the  common  signs  of  accent  and  quantity  \ 

•  See  ati  account  oitliis  valuable  M!?.  iu  the  Aiipiidix  to  the  present  [lapcr. 


-  \X 


■^. 


0k 


■H 


Indian  Languages  in  jyorth  America.  13 

because  these  signs  have  been  so  long  employed  to  denote  the 
usual,  though  vague  distinctions  of  grave,  acute  and  circumflex 
accents,  and  long  and  short  syllables^  that  they  would  perpetu- 
ally mislead  readers  of  evrry  nation ;  besides,  it  may  be  found 
useful  to  reserve  them,  to  be  placed  over  those  syllables  which  in 
English  we  call  accented,  in  order  to  denote  that  part  of  a  word, 
upon  which  the  greatest  force,  or  stress  of  the  voice  falls  in  pro. 
uunciation.^ 

The  elegant  scholar,  with  whose  remarks  I  l.avc  introduced 
this  subject,  and  from  whose  well-cousidcrcd  opinions  no  man 
should  dissent  without  great  hesitation,  after  observing,  that  "  our 
English  alphabet  and  orthography  are  disgracefully  and  almost 
ridiculously  imperfect,"  recommends,  fur  the  purpose  of  denoting 
modiilcatiuns  of  tlii^  kind,  the  adoption  of  <^  some  of  the  marks 
used  in  our  treatises  on  iluxions  ;"  and  accordingly  in  his  notation 
of  Asiatick  words,  he  makos  use  of  eitlicr  one,  two,  or  three  pointe 
placed  over  the  letters,  thus,  z,  z,  Z.f     This   notation  has   the 

•  Eliot  employed  two  of  tlio  accents  in  tlie  fi)llowing  manner :  "  We  use," 
sav9  he,  "  onely  two  Accents,  and  but  sometime.  Tiie  acute  (')  to  shew  which 
sellable  is  first  produced  in  pronouncing  of  tiie  word  ;  which,  if  it  be  not  attended 
to,  no  nation  can  understand  their  own  lanji;uage  ;  as  appcareth  by  the  witty  con- 
ceit of  tiie  Titi/re  tu's:  6  pioduced  wilh  tlie  aci-ent  is  a  reguhir  distinction  be- 
twixt the  first  and  second  prrsons  plural  of  the  Suppositivc  Mode ;  as 

JV*«amo^,  if  we  sec  (as  in  Log  J 

JS'auniofi:,  if  ye  see  (as  in  Vogue. ) 
The  othernccent  is  (")  wliich  I  call  nasal ;  and  it  is  used  only  upon  (6)  when 
it  is  sounded  in  the  nose,  as  oft  it  is  ;  or  upon  (u)  for  the  like  cause."  JndiaR 
(irammar,  p.  3.  These  nusal  sounds  may  be  more  conveniently  designated  in 
the  Hiunner  adopti'd  in  the  I'oluh  language,  which  will  be  mentioned  in  a  subse- 
quent part  of  this  paper. 

t  Dissertation,  in  Jones'  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  186. 


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14 


Mr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 


I.  if 


f 


s!.- 


manifest  advantage  of  great  simplicity  ;  biu  on  tlic  other  hand  it 
should  be  considered,  that  tliese  points  arc  extremely  subject  *j 
being  wholly  overlooked  or  confounded  with  each  other  both  in 
Avriting  and  printing ;  and,  in  the  science  of  mathematics,  from 
M  hich  the  learned  author  borrows  them,  it  is  a  well  known  fact, 
that  those  treatises  on  fluxions,  where  this  method  is  followed, 
abound  in  errors  beyond  all  comparison  more  than  those,  in  which 
the  French   notation  by  letter.^  instead  of  points  is  adopted."^ 
For  this  reason,  therefore,  marks  of  that  kind  should  bo  used  as 
sparingly  as  possible.     AVe  might,  perhaps,  conveniently  enough 
designate  the  modified  vowel  by  placing  a  small  letter  over  it,  as 
is  done  in  the  German  language,  where,  for  example,  the  vowel 
a,  (which  commonly  has  a  sound  like  ah  in  English)  if  it  has  a 
small  e  over  it  (a)  takes  a  sound  like  a  in  fate;  and  the  vowel  a 
with  a  small  e  over  it  (g)  loses  its  usual  sound  and  takes  one  re- 
sembling the  French  eu.     It  is  true,  that  the  Germans  also  use 
two  points  (thus  ii,  o,)  to  denote  these  modifications ;    but  these 
have  been  so  long  and  so  generally  employed  in  ancient  and 
modern  languages  as  a  dmresis,  that  it  docs  not  appear  advisable 
now  to  apply  them  to  a  new  use.     If  pointa  are  employed  at  all, 
it  would  be  better  to  place  them  perpendicularly  over  the  vowel 
(thus  a)  and  not  horizontally.     But  perhaps  the  most  intelligible 
and  least  ambiguous  notation  would  be  found  upon  experiment  to 
be,  such  as  is  adopted  in  the  pronouncing  dictionaries  of  our  own 
language,  that  is,  the  common  numerals ;    instead,  however,  of 
placing  them  over  the  letter,  as  is  there  done,  it  will  be  better  to 
place  them  under  it;  as  the  room  above  will  be  wanted  for  the 

•  The  learned  De  Sacy  observes,  «oo,  tliat  in  Arabic  <iie  v  (with  two  points) 
and  the  <>  (with  three)  are  often  confounded  in  the  Manuscripts.     See  hib  Arab, 
(iram.  vol.  i.  p.  18— >19. 


« 


ii- 


?*•■ 


I  .. 


'W, 


Indian  Languages  in  JSTorth  dmerica. 


10 


accents  and  marks  of  quantity.  But,  >vliaicver  modo  is  adopted, 
an  explanation  should  be  given  of  it,  by  reference  to  one  or  moro 
of  the  European  languages,  in  a  2''able  or  Key,  which  ought,  for 
the  present  at  least,  to  accompany  all  publications  in  the  Indian 
languages.* 

There  is,  however,  one  class  of  sounds  in  seme,  if  not  in  all 
^he  Indian  dialects,  I  mean  the  nasal  sounds,  for  which  it  seems 
absolutely  necessary  to  introduce  a  new  character ;  though  it  is 
always  extremely  desirable  to  avoid  having  recourse  to  this  dan- 
gerous expedient  in  any  alphabetic  notation,  which,  like  the 
present,  is  intended  for  a  practical  system.  In  those  Europeaa 
languages  with  which  we  arc  most  familiar,  such  nasal  modifica- 
tions arc  commonly  denoted  by  subjoining  certain  consonants  to 
the  vowels  thus  modified  ;  as  n  or  m  in  the  French  language  and 
some  others  ;  ng  in  the  German  and  our  own  language.  But 
nothing  would  be  gained  by  adopting  this  method  for  the  Indian 

•  In  JPii/ce's  Citrnisli  Oiammar  and  Vocabulary,  published  in  the  year  1790, 
a  diRereiit  expedient  from  any  above  propoiied  is  resorted  to  ;  that  is,  turning  the 
letters  upside  down.  Tiius,  the  vowel  A  in  its  natural  position  is  sounded  as  in 
vian,  but  when  inverted  (y)  it  is  to  be  sounded  as  in  fall.  This  method,  which 
does  not  seem  to  be  a  very  eligible  one,  has  been  followed  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent in  the  Tsvlvki  SqoLo  Clv,  or  Cherokee  Spelling  Book,  published  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Butrick,  (the  respectable  missionary  among  the  Cherokees)  and  his 
young  assistant,  Mr.  D.  Urown,  who  is  one  of  that  nation,  and  with  whom  I  have 
had  opportunities  of  conversing  upon  the  subjt  ct  of  his  language.  I  will  here 
remark,  by  the  way,  as  the  name  of  this  nation  has  been  variously  written,  Che- 
rokee, Cheerakee,  Clielokee,  &c.  that  Mr.  Brown  stated  the  true  name  to  be, 
(as  we  should  write  it  in  English)  Tmh-luh-kee',  sounding  the  u  as  in  but  and 
throwing  the  accent  upon  the  last  syllable  ;  and  so  it  is  to  be  pronounced  accord- 
ing to  the  orthography  used  in  the  title  of  the  Spelling  Book  above  quoted.  The 
corruption  of  ts  into  tsA  (or  our  cA^  is  very  common  in  tlie  attempts  to  write 
Indian  words. 


mmmmm 


i 

I   ■ 


V, 


■if- 


11 


\  Mi 


10 


•l/r.  Pickerius^nnthe  Orthm^rnphiiofthr 


laiigungcs,  in  Avhicb  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  cstablisli  a  new 
notiitlou  that  shall  l)c  siistnnatic,  «o  far  as  may  he  consistent 
Mitii  convenience  in  practice  ;  because,  if  wc  apply  those  conso- 
nant!*, n,  in,  or  any  otiiers,  whicli  already  have  certain  eslal)lisheil 
powers  in  the  alphabet,  to  llii.t  new  use  of  inilicatiuj;  nasal 
sounils,  we  shall  then  be  obligetl  to  alVix  to  them  a  sign  of  some 
sort  to  point  out  when  they  do  not  indicate  such  sounds  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  to  show  when  they  retain  what  wc  now  call  their 
usual  powers.  In  the  I'olish  language  these  nasal  vowels  are 
designated  by  the  little  mark,  called  in  some  of  the  foreign  Ian- 
guagcs  a  cedilla,  which  is  placed  under  them  thus,  n  e  {  o  uj 
and  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  this  and  many 
other  valuable  suggestions,  observes  in  a  letter  to  irje,  that  no 
other  method  has  occurred  to  him,  which  would  in  practice  be 
found  80  convenient  as  this  for  the  proposed  Ivdiun  alphabet ; 
an  opinion,  in  which  every  man,  who  has  weighed  the  various 
difficulties  in  this  case,  will  fully  concur.*  I  will  only  add  ua 
this  part  of  the  subject,  that  it  will  be  found  best  in  practice  to 

•  In  printing-offices  where  types  cannot  at  present  be  had  for  tliis  purpose, 

the  nasal  vowel  may  be  printed  as  it  is  iu  Volney's  work,  p.  .'JO,  with  an  inverted 

comma  subiuincd  to  it,  thus,  a     e    i     <,    u.     Uut  as  this  may  occasion  a  division 
•'  i     (     (      «      ( 

of  the  syllables  of  a  word  (which  bhould  be  avoided)  new  types  ought  to  be  made 
lor  the  nasal  vowels.  In  respect  to  tiic  division  ol  syllables  I  will  here  add  a  re- 
mark from  one  of  Mr.  Du  Ponceau's  letters  to  me ;  "  The  makers  of  Indian  Vo- 
cabularies are  in  the  habit  of  dividing  their  syUables,  as  in  the  Spelling  Book.  This 
is  awkward  and  inconvenient,  and  will  be  useless  on  the  principle  of  the  new 
alphabet."  Tiiis  remark,  occurrinjr  thus  early,  may  require  a  short  explanation. 
The  method  of  dividing  the  syllables  will  become  unnecessary,  because  in  the 
proposed  alphabet  every  letter  is  to  have  a  fixed  and  invariable  snuud,  however 
it  may  be  combined  with  others  j  and  in  spelling,  every  syllable,  except  final 
ones,  will  end  with  a  vowel. 


f  '  (II  WMi 


Tywrrnf- 


Indian  Languagea  in  J\i*orth  America. 


17 


place  these,  and  any  other  distinctive  marks  of  this  sort,  under 
the  letters ;  because  the  room  above,  as  I  have  before  observed; 
will  bo  wanted  for  the  marks  of  accent  and  quantity.^ 


♦ 


DIPHTHONGS. 

The  mode,  of  writing  the  dipbthongs,  which  would  naturally 
follow  that  of  the  vowels,  will  need  but  a  few  remarks  ;  for,  as 
the  diphthongs  will  be  compounded  of  the  several  vowels  whose 
powers  have  already  been  under  consideration, -twd- those  writers 

*  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  Ims  suggested  to  me  a  mcthoil  ot  indicating  accent  and 
quantity,  in  a  manner  whicli  is  at  once  simple  and  ingenio'  .  Me  proposes,  that 
loni;  accented  syllables  should  be  marked  with  the  grave  accent,  and  short  ac- 
cented ones  with  the  acute.  "  Unaccented  syllables,"  he  adds,  "  tieed  no  mark, 
being  generally  sliort."  This  method  would  be  attended  with  no  difficulty  in 
the  application,  were  it  not  for  the  diflerent  ideas,  which  diflferent  persons  may 
affix  to  the  terms  long  and  short  in  this  case.  We  say  in  English,  for  example, 
that  i  in  the  word  pine  is  long,  but  that  in  pin  it  is  short.  This,  to  an  Italian, 
French,  or  other  foreign  scholar,  would  be  an  absurdity ;  because  it  would  be  equi- 
valent to  saying,  that  the  sound  of  our  word  aye  and  of  our  letter  e  (for  so  they 
would  pronounce  i  in  pine  and  t  in  pinj  are  the  long  and  short  of  the  same  vocal 
sound  ;  when  too,  as  our  own  grammarians  begin  to  admit,  the  letter  i  in  the  for- 
mer case  is  a  diphthong,  and  in  the  latter,  a  vouel.  Yet,  absurd  as  this  appears,  we 
see  it  carried  into  our  methods  of  instruction  in  Latin  and  Greek,  as  well  as  in 
English.  No  person,  however,  who  has  given  the  least  attention  to  those  foreign 
languages,  which  are  the  most  legitimate  descendants  from  the  Latin  (that  is,  the 
Italian,  Spanish  and  Portuguese)  or  in  short,  to  any  of  the  Continental  languages 
of  Europe,  will  suppose  for  a  moment,  that  the  distinction  of  long  and  short  in 
the  ancient  languages  was  like  the  distinction  which  we  make  in  English,  in 
in  the  case  of  the  t  and  some  other  vowels.  But  this  is  not  the  place  fur  discuss- 
ing a  subject,  which  will  more  properly  belong  to  a  communication  on  the  Accents 
of  the  Greek  language,  which  I  hope  to  make  to  the  Academy  on  a  future  oc- 
casion. 

8 


M 


l\ 


b    . 


18  Mr.  Pickering  or  the  Orthography  of  thi- 

«>f  tlic  Indian  laiisnai^es,  who  may  adopt  tlic  prupoHed  orlliogra- 
pliy  uf  tliu  vuwcIh;  will  liiid  no  ditliciilty  in  coiubiniuj;  tlicHC  in  sucli 
a  luaiiiu'r  as  (u  tonstitute-  the  iTiiuiied  diphthongs.  It  luay  not^ 
however,  hi:  without  use  tu  observe,  that  there  are  in  some  of  the 
Indian  dialects  diphthongal  bounds,  which  we  are  accnutoiued  to 
denote  in  English  by  sin;:;lc  Irttcrs.  1  liave  found,  for  example, 
and  much  to  my  surprise,  by  conversation  with  the  young  Chero- 
kee mentioned  in  a  preceding  note,  that  in  the  language  of  that 
nation  they  have  the  diphthongal  sound  of  tiic  long  i  in  our  word 
pive,  and  of  the  long  a  in  our  word  pure ;  both  of  which  are  at 
length  admitted  to  be  diphthongs  by  some  of  our  own  gramma- 
rians, as  they  have  always  been  treated  by  the  Continental  nnHoni 
of  Europe,  who  generally  denote  the  first  of  them  by  at  and  the 
other  by  i\i  or  iou. ;  the  sounds  of  which  may  be  expressed  in 
English  by  ah-ee  and  ee-oo,  pronouncing  the  two  parts  of  these 
^ords  as  closely  together  as  possible. 

To  express  these  diphthongal  sounds,  therefore,   which,  like' 
the  vowels,  will  probably  in  some  dialects  be  found   tu  be  more 
close,  and  in  others  more  open,  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  adopt 
the  European  at  and  iu  ;  to  which  wc  may  add  yu,  to  be  used  at 
the  beginning  of  words,  for  the  reasons  which  will  be  mentioned 
in  considering  the  combinations  Li  and  Ly,  under  the  letter  It, 
We  shall  also  want  a  character  for  the   diphthong  which   we 
denote  in  English  by  ou  in  our,  and  ow  in  rtuw.      Either  of  our 
modes  of  writing   this  diphthong   would  be  ambiguous  to  the 
people  of  Europe  ;  for  they  would  in  general  pronounce  both  of 
them  like  ou  in  English.     Now  those  nations  in  their  own  lan- 
guages would  express  this  diphthong  by  au   (except  that  the 
French  would  write  it  aonj  ;    and  as  this  orthography  would 
naturally   follow   from   the  sounds  to   be   denoted   by  the  two 


llH 


Indian  Languages  in  JVorth  dmericoi 


lU 


component  vowels  a  and  u,  there  seems  to  be  every  reason, 
which  practical  convenience  could  suggest,  for  lelinquishing  our 
own  ojt  and  oir,  and  adopting  au  in  common  with  those  nations. 
It  need  hardly  bo  observed  here,  that  if  it  should  be  found 
requisite  in  any  Indian  words,  to  mark  very  distinctly  the  separate 
powers  of  the  two  component  letters  in  the  ai,  in  and  au,  and 
(bus  in  effect  dissolve  the  diphthong,  it  may  be  done  by  means 
of  tlie  common  dimresia. 


CONSONANTS. 
B. 

The  letter  B  may  have  the  power  which  it  genevally  has  iu 
the  European  languages  and  in  our  own. 

0. 

The  letter  C  may  be  entirely  dispensed  with,  on  account  of  its 
very  changeable  power  in  the  European  languages,  and  because 
its  two  most  c':raraon  sounds  may  be  perfectly  expressed  by  K 
and  by  8.  Our  venerable  Eliot  says  of  it— «  We  lay  by  the 
letter  C,  saving  in  CH,  of  which  there  is  frequent  use  in  tha 
language."*  Uut,  for  the  CH,  it  will  be  lound  advisable  that  we 
should  substitute  another  notation,  which  will  be  mentioned  in 
its  place  under  the  letter  T. 

D ;  DH  ;  DS  or  DZ ;  and  DJ,  D8H  or  DZH. 

The  letter  D,  when  single,  may  have  its  usual  power. 
l)h  may  be  conveniently  used  to  denote  what  Walker  calls  in 
English  the /of  sound  of  th;  that  is,  the  sound  which  th  has  in 

•  Indian  Gram.  p.  2. 


f 


!l  ■    ■' 


'♦?  , 


If 


10  »Wr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 

our  words  this,  that,  &c.  uiid  fur  which  our  Snxon  anceitor«  had 
an  appropriate  chBractcr,  bul  lor  want  of  which  wo  ihould  be 
oblij^ed  to  write  the  Bamc  wordi),  dhiii,  dhat  itc* 

Ih  or  l)x  will  probably  he  wanted  in  some  cases,  to  denote 
thi'/at  sounds  corresponding  to  *«  ;  which  last  in  very  con.roou 
in  (he  Indian  lan;;uagc8  (though  often  corrupted  into  our  chj 
and  is  expressed  l)y  the  O'crman  writers  l»y  a  simple  Z ;  a  letter 
whicii  in  their  own  language,  as  is  well  known,  has  the  power  of 
tti  or  tz  in  English. 

Dj,  Ihh  or  lixh  may  be  employed  to  express  the  sound  of 
our  J ;  which,  for  the  reasons  that  will  be  given  under  that  let- 
ter, it  seems  necessary  to  reject  from  the  proposed  system  of 
orthography. 

*  Tlie^»/ Bound  of  f/i.  Notliing  can  be  more  unsettled  and  imperfect  (lian 
our  tecliiiical  laMi;un;;p  in  Oruinnmr  and  Itlietoiic  ;  and  tliiA  circuniNtance  has 
uiuclt  retardtul  the  progress  of  accurate  irivcHtigatiun  in  (hose  two  branchcHot'  uur 
studies.  So  far  as  respects  sound*,  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  burrow  terini 
from  ^Viisir,  wliich  is  the  Science  (if  Rounds  ;  and  I  have  accordingly  used  the 
Xnuwi  Jtat  !\nA  slinrp  [w  fcrnve  ttwA  ncule )  which  I  hi'lieve  were  first  empluved 
S3*steniutically  in  Walker's  I'ronounciu^  Dictionary,  to  (lesij;nnte  the  two  ciasKCS 
of  consoniints  often  called  mules  and  Bemi-mutcs,  as  b,  </,  r,  and  p,  t,  f,  &,c. 
Mr.  l)u  Fonceau  uhservrs,  that  this  dibtincdon  niajr  he  as  good  as  any  other; 
hut  lie  suggests,  whether  that  of  insjtiratPH  and  exapivateH  would  not  be  preferable  $ 
applying  the  former  of  these  terms  to  the  Jlnt  conKununts,  and  (he  latter  to  the 
sharp  ones;  so  that  II  will  he  called  an  inspirtite,  and  /',  an  ea'upirate,  &c.  He 
is  of  opinion  that  "  in  pronoi.ncin'j;  these  two  classes  of  letters,  tlic  organ  in  the 

one  case  expels  the  breath,  and  in  the  other  draws  it  in The  txspiration,  in 

'»  "'»/>  Pi  ^c.  (he  remarks)  is  clearly  and  strongly  to  be  perceived  ;  the  iitsjn- 
ration  in  their  correlatives,  perhaps  nut  (jtiite  so  much.  To  me  it  seems,  that 
when  you  say  thtndei',  you  push  the  air  out,  when  you  say  thatf  you  draw  or 
keep  the  air  in  as  much  as  is  jiosisihle  in  uttering  a  consonant." 


Indian  Languages  in  tPiTtrth  tin'i'ica. 


M 


The  letter  F,  wheuever  it  sliall  be  wanted,  will  have  »t8  UHiial 
power.  But  pntlialily  there  will  not  bo  much  use  for  it  in  many 
of  the  Indian  dialects ;  for  Mr.  Heckcweldcr  ^serves  of  tuc 
Delaware  language,  which  is  the  basis  of  many  others,  that  it 
has  **  no  such  consouaots  as  the  German  ir,  or  Eagliijh  u,  F, 
or  r."* 

G,  GH,  GS. 

The,  letter  G,  whatever  vowel  may  happen  to  follow  it,  should 
invariably  h.avc  the  sound,  which  wo  call  in  English  its  fiard 
sound ;  and  which  it  generally  has  before  a,  o  and  u,  in  the 
European  languages  as  well  as  our  own.  This  power  of  G  is 
commonly  traced  back  no  farther  than  the  times  of  our  Saxon 
ancestors ;  but  scholars  have  supposed,  and  upon  no  slight 
grourds  Miat  this  was  also  its  common  sound,  or  a  very  near 
approximation  to  its  common  sound  among  the  Romans,  when  it 
was  followed  by  either  of  the  vowels. 

Gh  may  be  used  to  denote  the  flat  guttural  of  the  Irisii, 
which  is  the  corresponding  sound  to  the  sharp  guttural,  ur  Ger- 
man ch ;  which  last  I  should  prefer  designating  by  kh,  as  Sir 
William  Junes  recommends  in  the  Oriental  languages,  and  as  will 
presently  be  more  particularly  considered  under  the  letter  K. 

Gs  will  be  wanted  to  denote  the  flat  souud  of  x,  in  our  word 
example  and  other  words  of  that  form,  where  the  letter  JT  pre- 
cedes the  accented  syllable ;  as  ks  will  be  wanted  to  express  the 
shrirp  sound  which  x  has  in  our  word  exercise  and  in  certain 
others  which  have  the  Xin  the  accented  syllable. 


•  Correspondence  with  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  p.  3'JC. 
letter  ff  lu  the  present  communication. 


See  also  the  *yole  on  the 


iiii«iiiiil« 


V|!f: 


i 


l'  '     ' 
I        I 


33  .Vr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 

H,  HW. 

//,  eillier  wlion  single  or  in  cmnbination  with  others,  may 
perform  its  usual  office  of  an  aspirate, 

Ifir  will  be  Avanted  for  the  purpose  of  denoting  the  sound 
Avliich  in  Eni^lish  we  now  express  by  «'A,  as  in  what,  when,  &c., 
though  our  Saxon  ancestors  used  to  put  the  h  before  the  tr,  and 
wrote  the  same  words  hwwt,  hwcvnne.  The  Swedes  also  (as 
5Ir.  Du  Ponceau  remarks  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me)  formerly 
used  hw  and  hii  ;  but  at  the  present  day,  they  as  well  as  Ihe 
Danes  use  hv, 

J. 

The  use  of  the  letter  J  is  attended  wiiii  more  difficulty  than 
any  of  the  preceding  consonants,  A  (ipr:uan  or  an  Italian 
would  inevitably  give  it  the  sound  of  our  y  :*  h  Frenchman  or  a 
Portugueze,  that  of  zh  (or  s  in  our  word  pleasure  :J  while  a 
Spaniard  would  give  it  tha  strong  guttural  sound  well  known 
in  his  language.  Under  these  circumstances,  therefore,  although 
it  is  extremely  desirable  to  have  single  lett,  rs  to  represent  single 
sounds  (as  we  generally  denominate  them)  yet  it  appears  to  me 
better  on  the  whole  to  rejpct  the  letter  ./,  and  instead  of  it  to 
adopt  a  combination  of  letters,  which  shall  be  in  analogy  with  the 
common  sound  of  our  c//  ftshj,  which  is  tlie  corresponding  ^Aarp 
sound  to  that  of  J.  As,  t!>.erefurc,  I  shall  presently  propose  to  de> 
note  our  ch  by  tsh,  so  in  the  present  case  I  would  supply  the  place 
of  our./,  by  dsh  or  dxh ;  or,  if  it  should  be  thought  best,  in  a 
practical  alphabet,  to  sacrifice  analogy  to  simplicity,  we  mighi 

•  Mr.  Heckewelder  very  jinliciously  eiii]ilc>ys  (!io  y  in>,tt'ail  of  j,  which  Mr. 
ZcishergiT  anil  the  olhei  (iermaii  .Missionaries  always  make  use  of.  Hee  /iii 
Corr<>sjiondence  with  Mr.  Du  I'unceau,  p.  "Si. 


Indian  Languages  in  tlSTorth  America. 


23 


'•■'■a-. 


exprcfls  this  sound  by  (fj  or  dg,  as  the  French  commonly  do  in 
writing  foreign  worth.  In  the  Malay  Bible  and  Testament, 
printed  by  the  Dutch  in  1733  (the  latter  of  which  was  reprinted 
by  the  English  in  1818)  the  Dutch  have  adopted  a  character 
compounded  of  J)  and  J  closely  united  thus,  1^,  dj,  which  would 
be  prel'erablR  to  dg;  but  in  that  case,  again,  if  wc  strictly  re- 
garded analogy,  we  should  express  ch  by  (/,  as  the  Jutch  have 
done  in  that  work.  This  would  be  a  little  awkward  to  us  and 
not  free  from  ambiguity ;  as,  fur  example,  in  the  name  of  the 
place  whe-*.  ihe  Knglish  edition  of  this  Malay  Testament  was 
reprinlc-d,  and  which  is  expressed  conformably  to  the  above 
notation  tliiis,  Tjalsi,  (to  be  sounded  as  if  written  TjelsiJ  we 
should  not  immediately  discover  the  plain  English  name,  Chelsea. 
In  the  case  of  this,  as  well  as  other  letters  of  the  alphabet,  it 
will  not  be  overlooked,  that  one  advantage  of  having  characters, 
which  i>hall  be  in  analogy  with  each  other,  is,  that  they  will  im- 
mediately point  out  to  the  eye  many  affinities,  which  under  an 
irregular  orthography  are  discoverable  only  by  the  ear ;  and, 
perhaps,  in  the  present  instance  the  character  dj,  which  is  less 
cumbrous  than  dsh  or  dzh,  will  sufficiently  resemble  tah  to  an- 
swer that  purpose. 

K,  KFI,  KS. 

JK",  when  single,  may  preserve  its  usual  power,  which  is  fa- 
miliarly  known  to  the  European  nations,  though  the  letter  itiielf 
is  not  used  in  all  their  alphabets. 

Wt  may  be  used  to  denote  tiie  sharp  guttural,  which  the 
Germans  express  by  eft  and  the  Greeks  l»y;^^;  while  the  corres- 
ponding ^ut  guttural,  as  before  observed;  may  be  denoted  by  gh. 


f 


iii 


i/m 


I 


■'1 

i 


!;.  ■,  I 


:••  n 


m 


Mr.  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 


The  comliination  kh  is  (o  be  preferred  to  ch,  because  the  latter 
would  be  ambiguous  to  Europeans  in  general,  as  well  as  to  our- 
solves  :  for  though  the  Germans  would  give  ch  the  intended 
guttural  sound,  a  Frenchman  would  prDnouncc  it  like  our  ah,  and 
wc  should  ourselves  be  in  doubt  whether  to  pronounce  it  like  tsh 
or  like  k  :  while  a  Spaniard  would  give  it  the  sound  of  tsh,  and 
an  Italian,  the  common  unaspirated  sound  of  A*. 

Its  will  be  necessary,  to  denote  the  sharp  sound  which  x  has 
in  the  word  exercise  and  many  others. 

L  ;  and  LY  or  LI. 

The  letter  L,  whether  single  or  double,  may  retain  its  usual 
power. 

Ly  or  Li  may  be  found  useful,  tc  express  the  liquid  sound  of 
L,  as  it  is  called,  which  is  heard  in  the  foreign  words  seraglio, 
intaglio,  &c.  and  is  observable  in  our  English  word  steelyard 
and  some  others ;  which,  if  we  divide  thus,  stee-lyard,    the  last 
syllable  will  give  us  this  common  foreign  sound  with  the  greatest 
exactness.    The  French  express  the  same  sound  by  II   after  i ; 
the  Italians,  by  gl  before  i  ;  the  Spaniards,  by  //,   and  the  Por- 
tuL;ueze,  by  Ih.    But  either  ly  or  li  will,  I  think,  be  attended 
with  fewer  difficulties  in  practice,  than  any  of  the  combinations 
above  mentioned,  in  a  system  of  orthography  which  is  to  be  used 
in  common  by  several  European   nations   and  ourselves  ;    and 
of  these  two,   li   and  ly,  we  should  ourselves  in  most  cases, 
especially  at  the  beginning  of  a  word,  give  the  preference   to 
ly ;   though  to  foreigners,  it  would  be  a  matter  of  indifference 
which  of  them  should  be  adopted.     It  may  be  thought  indeed, 
that  there  is  no  necessity  for  both  of  them  ;  and,  strictly  speaking, 
perhaps,  there  is  not  any  more  than  there  is  for  retaining  both  of 


■h- 


Indian  Languages  in  JSTorth  Jlmeriea, 


»5 


the  single  letters,  i  anf*  y,  amoug  the  vowels  and  diphthongs. 
Yet  wo  have  ourselves  been  so  much  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
y,  instead  of  i,  before  the  other  vowels,  and  particularly  in  tlie 
beginning  of  words  and  before  the  letter  i  itself,  (where  we  could 
nut  without  doing  great  violence  to  our  habits  employ  the  i,J  that 
it  seems  advisable  to  retain  i  and  ^,  and  fur  the  like  reasons,  the 
li  and  ly.  Tliis  will  also  be  in  conformity  with  the  actual  prac- 
tice of  the  German  missionaries,  who  use  both  their  i  and  their  j 
(which  last  is  equivalent  to  our  yj  in  writing  Indian  words.* 

M. 

The  letter  M  will  have  its  usual  power,  whicli  is,  practically 
speaking,  the  same  in  the  European  languages  in  general. f 

*  Perhaps  it  will  not  be  found  necessary  to  adopt  any  character  to  express 
the  liijitid  I  (or  I  mouilUe ;)  for  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  informs  me,  that  he  has  not 
yet  met  with  thia  sound  in  any  of  the  Indian  languages  examined  by  iiim.  I 
once  tliought  of  using  the  Spanish  II  for  this  sound ;  but  upon  Mr.  Du  Ponceau's 
suggestion,  tliat  there  might  in  some  Indian  words  be  occasion  to  express  a  full 
and  distinct  sound  of  two  I 's  following  each  other,  as  in  the  Italian  words,  bel-hj 
stel4a,  I  abandrned  it.  In  our  own  language  we  are  not  in  general  sensible  of 
any  diRercnce  between  two  I 's  and  one ;  but  if  we  take  a  word  in  which  the 
second  I  is  under  the  accent,  as  in  illegal,  illustrate,  &c.  or  if  we  pronounce  two 
words  together,  the  first  of  which  ends,  and  the  second  begins,  with  /,  us  in  full 
length,  well  looking,  &c  '      difiercnce  becomes  more  perceptible. 


t  The  Portugueze  final  m  and  the  Frencli  m  and  n,  which  arc  nasal  (or  the 
signs  of  a  nasal  sound  in  the  vowel  annexed  to  theiii)  need  not,  in  this  general 
view,  be  considered  as  bxceptions. 


'fp* 


( 


S6 


|,;| 

|v|l 

[  \ 

I 


Mr.  IHchering  on  the.  Orthography  of  the 
N;  flHrf  NY  or  NI. 


«i\' may  also  retain  its  usual  power,  which  (as  was  ohservcil 
in  the  case  of  MJ  is  the  same  in  the  European  languages  gcn< 
enilly.* 

»V//  or  ni  may  be  wanted  to  express  the  sound  of  gn  in  the 
foreign  words  bagnio,  seignior,  and  which  we  hear  in  our  words 
convenient,  minion,  whintjard,  the  proper  name  Jtnuyan,  &c. 
The  Spaniards,  as  is  well  known,  have  an  appropriate  letter  for 
it  in  their  alphabet,  being  an  n  with  a  mark  over  it,  thus,  n  ;  the 
Portugaeze  donotv,  it  by  nh,  aud  the  Italians  by  gn.  But  for 
i^imilar  reasons  to  those  mentioned  *  the  case  of  the  lij,  1  think 
we  shall  Cud  ni/  more  convenient  in  j^^ractice  than  either  of  these. f 

P. 

The  letter  P  may  have  its  usual  power. 

This  letter  may  be  entirely  dispensed  with  ;  as  its  place  may 
be  perfectly  supplied  by  A*.  Home  writers  have  used  ({  aloue  in 
Avriting  Indian  words  to  express  the  sound  of  (jii  or  qtc  ;  but  kiP 
would,  1  think,  be  far  preferable  in  every  point  of  view.  If  the 
(I  is  preserved  in  any  Indian  alphabet,  it  may  be  applied  to 
desi£!;aale  some  uncommon  modiilcation  of  its  usual  sound  ;  and 
such  modification  should  be  indicated  by  some  mark  affixed  to 
the  letter. 

*  Sec  note  t  on  (he  preceding  page. 

I  -Mr.  I)u  I'onccau  telis  inc  tliat  this  lijuid  u  [hi:  wj)  is  found  in  the  Carib- 
lee  hnguago. 


m- 


A 


Iniian  Languages  in  J\*orth  America. 
R. 


87 


11  may  preserve  its  common  sound,  wbicli  is  fundamentally 
the  same  in  the  European  lani;ua5es,  though  uttered  with  very 
difforcat  degrees  of  force,  or  roughness,  by  different  nations. 

S,  SH. 

iS»  should  always  have  its  common  sibilant  power,  and  never 
be  pronounced  like  Z. 

Sk  will  be  wanted,  and  appears  to  me  preferable  to  the  com- 
binations of  letters  now  used  by  feome  European  nations,  to 
denote  that  sound  which  we  always  express  by  sh,  and  which  is 
common  to  our  own  and  many  other  languages  in  various  parts 
of  the  globe.  Tlie  French  express  it  by  cli,  which  we  liavc  re- 
tained in  tlie  word  chaise,  and  others  borrowed  from  thorn. 
But  the  use  of  ch,  in  the  Indian  languages,  would'  mislead 
readers  of  different  nations ;  for  a  German  would  pronounce  it 
as  Vi  guttural  (like  khj,  an  Italian  like  fc,  a  Spaniard  like  tsh, 
&c.  The  Germans  denote  tliis  sound  of  our  ah  by  sch  ;  which 
combination,  besides  being  incumbered  with  one  more  letter  than 
our  shf  would  indubitably  mislead  an  Italian,  and  aL>  English- 
Bian,  and  perhaps  readers  of  some  other  nations ;  for  an  Italian 
and  an  Englishman  would  pronounce  sch  like  sk  instead  of  sh. 
It  is,  doubtless,  in  consequence  of  this  ambiguity  in  the  sch,  that 
wc  so  often  hear  the  name  of  that  northern  region,  which  is  com- 
monly written  Ii'anitschatka,  corruptly  pronouncf'  Kam  slcatka, 
instead  of  Itain-tchatka,  (or  Kams-tchntka,  as  we  ought  to  call  it, 
if  we  wisii  to  c une  as  near  to  the  Russian  pronunciation  as  our 
organs  will  permit,  without  an  unnatural  effort :)  fi)r,  as  we  bor- 
row the  orthography  of  this  name  from  the  Germans,  tlirough 
whose   works   we   principally   derive   our  information   of    that 


j-U. 


SB  M>'.  I'Ickerhg  on  the  Orthograjthi/  of  the 

country  and  wlio  Mrilo  it  Kamlachaika,  (with  achj  wc  natnrally 
pronounce  tlie  letters  sch  like  sk,  accoriling  to  the  general  analogy 
of  our  own  language.*  Our  s/j,  then,  being  more  simitle  in  itself 
than  the  German  sch,  yet  sufficiently  near  to  that  as  well  as  to  the 
French  ch,  to  indicate  its  power  in  most  cases,  and  being  also  an 
unusual  combination  in  the  liuropeau  languages,  would  be  free 
from  the  ambigui'y  altending  the  German  sch,  and  not  80  likely 
to  mislead  readers  of  different  nations. 

The  corresponding  flat  sound  to  s/t,  that  is,  our  «  in  the  word 
fhaanre  (or  j  in  French,)  may  be  denoted  by  xh,  as  will  be 
noticed  under  the  letter  Z.f 

T ;  TH  ;  TS  and  TZ  ;  TSH. 

The  letter  T,  wheu  single,  will  have  its  common  power.  It 
will  also  be  used  in  the  three  following  combinations  : 

Tiic  flrst  of  them,  ih^  is  always  called  in  foreign  grnumars 
the  Knglish  TH,  and  is  now  well  understood  and  used  by  the 
nations  of  Europe,  when  they  wish  to  express  that  sharp  lisping 
sound  which  it  has  in  our  word  thin,  thick,  &c.  and  which  is 

•  This  name  in  tlie  Russian  language  (as  Mr.  nu  Ponceau  observes)  is  writ- 
ten KUMlljaiUKa,  tlic  fourtli  letter  of  which  is  equivalent  to  li/i/n/i  in  Engiish. 
We  ought,  flicieforc,  in  strictness  to  write  and  pronounce  it  A'amshlshalkai 
which,  if  we  f'uliow  the  Uussian  letters,  would  in  spelling;  bo  divided  thus, 
h'am-shtshatka  ;  hut  to  make  it  more  intelligible  in  Knglish,  wc  might  write  and 
divide  thus,  ICamsh-clialka.  In  our  pronunciation,  howovcr,  this  is  generally 
<^rirtened  either  into  ICams-tshatku,  or  A'um'tsliatka. 

t  There  would  be  a  convenience  in  having  these  compounded  characters, 
sh,  xh  and  others,  printed  in  one  character,  as  our  sh  always  used  to  be  5  and 
if  new  types  are  made,  it  may  be  well  to  attend  to  this  point.  In  our  own  and 
other  language!',  however,  no  great  inconvenience  is  felt  from  the  use  of  separate 

letters. 


r-s' 


Indian  Languages  in  J^Torth  America, 


SO 


supposed  to  have  been  the  ancient,  as  it  is  the  modern,  sound  of 
the  Greek  theta.  The  corresponding  flat  sound  (which  is  heard 
in  our  words,  thiSf  that,  &c.)  should  be  expressed  by  dh,  as  I 
have  observed  under  the  letter  1). 

The  second  is  ts ;  which,  being  formed  of  two  letters  whose 
powers  may  ho  called  invariable,  will  never  be  ambiguous. 
This  will  be  much  preferable  to  the  ticrman  Z,  which  has  the 
pONcr  of  t8  or  tz,  but  which  most  nations  would  pronounce 
in  their  own  languages  as  we  do  in  ours,  and  would  there- 
fore be  misled  in  the  pronunciation  of  Indian  words,  where 
this  letter  occurs.  Thus,  for  example,  if  a  Frenchman  and  an 
Englishman  should  happen  to  meet  with  the  expression  in  the 
Delaware  language,  which  a  German  would  write  n'mizi  (I  cat) 
the  former  of  them  would  pronounce  it  n'meezee,  and  the  other, 
n'mizi,  (sounding  the  i  as  in  pine, J  both  of  which  would  be  unin- 
telligible  to  an  Indian  of  that  tribe  ;  while  the  German  alone 
would  pronounce  it  correctly,  as  we  should  write  it  in  our 
English  manner,  n'meetaee. 

I  have  here  spoken  only  of  ts  as  a  substitute  for  the  German 
X  ;  but  tz  may  perhaps  be  required  to  express  a  slight  modifica> 
tion  of  this  fundamental  sound,  which  may  probably  be  observed 
in  some  particular  dialects,  or  in  different  words  of  the  same 
dialect.  The  acquisition  of  this  and  numberless  other  delicate 
distinctions  of  fundamental  sounds,  wliich  may  be  perceived  in 
the  various  Indian  dialects,  and  the  establishing  of  distinct  char- 
acters for  them,  must,  if  practicable  at  all,  be  the  result  of 
long  and  careful  olvservation  on  the  part  of  those,  who  may  be 
called  to  reside  among  the  diff'erent  tribes. 

The  remaining  cumhiuation,  tsh,  may  be  employed  to  denote 
the  sound  of  our  ch  (in  chair,  chain,  &c.)  which  the  French 


(^  ■*■-*. 


^ '  ■  I 


a<  *  -^^r    fc 


0t     '.'* , 


•v 


HV 


aO  J/»'.  Pich-crlnt;  on  the  Orthogvaphtj  of  the 

would  cxprcsss  by  tch  and  tlie  Germnus  by  tnch.  It  would  be 
dosiralilc,  it  is  true,  to  have  a  cliaracter  of  greater  simplicity  than 
these  tlireo  letters  make,  and  on  tliat  account  our  ch  would  bo 
preferable  to  tsh  :  but  for  the  reasons  before  given  (under  khj 
it  would  not  be  expedient  to  adopt  it.  The  Russians  in  their 
copious  alphabet  are  fortunate  in  having  a  single  character  to 
denote  this  sound,  as  we  have  in  our  J,  for  the  corresponding 
flat  one  ;  they  would  express  our  ch  by  "^  ,  wiiich  resembles  our 
h  inverted  ;  and  if  there  was  as  much  literary  intercourse  with  tiic 
Russians,  as  with  the  Germans  and  other  people  of  Europe,  and 
the  rest  of  the  proposed  alphabet  was  common  to  them  and  other 
nations,  it  might  be  found  advisable  to  add  to  it  this  very  usctul 
Russian  character. 

V. 

The  letter  V,  whenever  it  shall  be  wanted,  will  have  the 
usual  power.  But  probal'y  there  will  not  be  much  use  for  it  in 
many  of  the  Indian  dialects,  for  the  reasons  given  under  the 
letter  F. 

W. 

This  letter  has  been  already  considered  in  the  rcmn'rkfl  upon 
the  vowels,  at  page  330.* 

*  In  tlie  Ikhiwarp  language,  (as  tlic  Hov.  Mr,  Hockcweldcr  oliscives.)  where 
tlie  letter  IF"  is  placed  ucfore  a  vowel,  it  sound;  tlie  same  as  in  English  ;  before 
a  consonant  it  represents  a  whistled  sound,  of  wliicli  I  cannot  well  give  vou  an 
idea  on  paper,  &c.     See  his  Correspondence  with  J/r.  Du  J'uncenu,  p.  S'JG. 

Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  in  a  letter  to  me,  sa^s  upon  (his  point — "  I  have  analysed 
the  wliistling  /f'of  the  Delawarcs.  It  is  nothing  more  than  our  oh  consonant, 
w  or  wh,  in  tcell,  wliat.  The  Dclawares  pronounce  it  inunediately  helure  a 
cnnsonatit  without  an  intervening  vowel;  whicii  habit  enables  tiiem  to  du,  wltilc 


!lii    ' 


»» 


■^^-.,  ""IV 


Indian  Languages  in  JSTorth  ,imcrica, 
X. 


81 


A'  is  altogether  unnecessary,  as  its  two  common  powers  may 
1)C  expressed  by  ks  and  gs  ;  and  if  tlic  x  itself  should  be  adopted, 
it  would  be  quite  uncertain,  both  to  ourselves  and  to  readers  of 
some  other  nations,  which  of  the  two  sounds  hero  mentioned  was 
intended  by  it ;  besides  which,  a  Spaniard  would  be  in  doubt 
whether  to  give  it  the  flrst  of  the  two  sounds  here  mentioned,  or 
the  guttural  one  which  the  x  has  in  his  own  language  ;  while  a 
Portuguezc  would  pronounce  it  like  our  sh,  which  is  its  common 
power  in  his  alphabet. 

Y. 

For  the  use  of  this  letter,  see  the  remarks  upon  tlie  vowels, 
at  page  3'2d. 

z,  zu. 

The  letter  Z,  when  single,  will  have  the  power  it  has  m 
French,  Engliah  and  some  other  languages.  In  this  case,  how- 
ever,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  Germans  and  Italians  to  relin< 
quish  their  peculiar  pronunciation  of  it,  and  to  adopt  the  sub- 
stitutes  proposed  in  the  preceding  remarks ;  that  is,  ts,  tz,  da  or 
dx,  as  the  case  may  be  found  to  require  in  the  dilTcrent  dialects. 

Zh  will  serve  to  designate  the  corresponding  flat  sound  to 
sh  ;  that  is,  the  sound  of  the  French  J,  which  is  equivalent  to 
our  s  in  the  word  pleasure. 

we  cannot,  unless  practice  has  madft  it  familiar  to  us ;  as  it  has  to  inc.  Take 
the  word  »(<,  )oii  pronounce  it  easily;  transpose  the  vowel  and  write  it  uie, 
a  Delaware  will  pronounce  it  with  the  same  cbkc  ;  when  we  cannot.  Try  a 
Frenchman  at  pronouncing;  this  hemistich  out  of  I'a'adise  Lost— //e«y'/i's  last 
heat  ffift ;  he  will  be  as  much  embarrasseil  with  the  vnst,  the  stb,  and  the  nts, 
(which  habit  makes  us  pronounce  with  great  rapidity  a.id  ease)  as  we  are  with  the 
wt  of  the  Delawares." 


*fi- 


I 


m 


/,.,li 


••it 


uf 

:'ji' 


If  i  i 


•li  ■: 


r      "1 


I 


3S 


Jfi'.  Pich-erinX'^nff'C  Orthii^vaphtj  nfthc 


The  whole  Ali>hahi't.  llien,  of  the  proposed  systematic  Or- 
thogiiiphy.  that  is,  tlie  baitiH  or  fundamental  vharacterg  of  it,  will 
I)c  IIS  roprescnU'd  in  tiic  following  Table  ;  in  wliidi  the  several 
characters  me  airanged  nccnnling  to  our  tonimon  tilplmbctical 
Older,  without  tiny  attempt  being  made  to  class  tlie  t^ounds  ac 
cording  to  their  organic  formation  ;  because,  useful  and  necessary 
as  this  would  bo  in  a  philos«>phicftl  investigation  of  the  ailinitiea 
of  those  sounds,  it  would  not  be  attended  with  any  important 
advantage  in  an  alphaliet,  like  the  present,  designed  merely  for 
practical  use.  When  we  arn  searching  for  a  word  in  a  diction- 
ary, whether  of  llie  Intlian  or  any  other  language,  we  naturally 
look  for  the  written  »u"n  in  the  place  where  it  ought  to  stand 
according  to  the  nrrangt'ment  of  our  own  alpha  bet. 

I  may  hero  add,  what   I  wish  to  be  distinctly   nndcnitood, 
that,  as  it  never  was  my  plan  to  give  a  universal  alphabet  on  strict 
philosophical  principles  for  the  use  of  the  learned,  but  merely  a 
practical  one,  to  be  applied  to  the   Indian  languages  of  North 
America,  so  I  have  intentionally  omitted  many  sounds,  which 
occur  in  the  languages  of  Europe  and  other  parts  of  the  world, 
and  numerous  modifications  of  greater  or  less  delicacy  in  some  of 
the  fundamental  simnda   which   have   come   under    my   notice. 
Among   such   omitted  sounds  might  be  mentioned  the  various 
slight  differences  (to  an  unpractised  ear  often  imperceptible)  in 
the  French  e  and  other  vowels;  depending  upon  the  accent  af- 
fived  to  them,  and  about  which,  indeed,  their  own   writers   have 
differed,  as  our  own  do  in  respect  to  the  nicer  distinctions  of 
English  pronunciation — the  French  u  ((>erman  «,  Danish  anil 
Swedish  yj — the  French  eu  or  oeu  (German  and   Swedish  ^  or 
i),  Danish  ^A)  &c. ;  to  which  might  be  added  the  Polish  /  barree 
1  or  crossed  Ij  which,  as  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  remarks,  is  found  in 


ii'ii  I 


Indian  Lanj^uagea  in  %\*orth  America. 


38 


or 


llic  Carlhhpe  lan^njigc,  and  to  pronounce  which  wc  must  place 
the  toiiv;iif  as  fur  hack  an  possihlc  on  the  roof  of  the  month  and 
articulate  /.  Hut  to  have  ovcrchargfd  the  proposed  aiphahct 
with  a  great  many  niceties  of  this  kind,  (if  it  lind  Iteen  in  my 
power  to  represent  tiiem  all  with  exactness)  would  have  had  a 
tendency  to  frustrate  the  very  ohject  I  had  in  view  ;  tliat  is,  a 
practical  system  of  ortliography.  In  sucli  a  system,  an  approxi. 
mntion  is  all  that  wc  can  expect,  and  perhaps  all  that  is  at  present 
necessary  in  our  inquiries.  If  the  alphabet  here  given  shall  prove 
to  ho  sufficiently  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  denoting  what 
may  he  called  fundamental  sounds  of  the  principal  Indian  lan- 
guages, it  will  not  be  difficult  hereafter,  gradually  to  make  pro- 
vision for  such  signs  as  experience  may  suggest,  in  order  to  de- 
signate all  the  delicate  modiiications  of  speech,  which  the  nicest 
car  shall  be  aide  to  discover  in  the  dift'erent  dialects.  But  vew 
signs  should  he  introduced  with  the  greatest  caution,  lest  we 
should  have  an  alphabet,  which  will  be  too  cumbrous  for  use  iu 
writing,  and  will  require  a  multitude  of  new  types  for  printing, 
these  languages.  The  great  danger  will  be  (as  Mr.  Uu  Ponceau 
has  observed  to  me)  that  every  man,  however  little  qualified, 
<'  will  think  himself  adc(|uate  to  the  task  of  inventing  new  char- 
acters, and  will  delight  to  di8|ilay  himself  in  that  WJiy.  These 
displays  are  used  in  order  to  conceal  the  want  of  ideas  and  re- 
sources." As  in  the  use  of  our  own  language,  it  is  much  easier 
for  every  tasteless  writer  to  invent  new  words  according  to  his 
own  caprice,  in  order  to  serve  his  immediate  purposes,  than 
patiently  and  carefully  to  select  from  our  present  abundant  stock 
those  appropriate  terras,  which  have  the  sanction  of  the  best 
usage;  so,  in  constructing  an  alphabet  for  the  Indian  languages, 
it  will  be  found  a  much  shorter  method,  to  devise  new  and  gro- 


'4 


?!'  4 


1  'f 


n 


n 


:   , 


;;|.  .Ml'.  I'ickeritig  on  the  Orthography  of  the 

U'stiwc  characU'is.  tliaii  to  apply  with  ttkill  and  tliMcrimiiiation 
llioHC  Utters  wliidi  nie  nlictiily  iu  u»o  cillicr  in  our  uwu  or  the 
kiadroil  al|»li.il>i'l!-. 

1  (Hire  tliuii^lit  of  nddtiii:  to  tlic  proposicil  itlplialict  appropriate 
viiincs  tor  llie  li'ttors  ;  luit  as  llii!«  waM  not  Niriitly  williiii  my 
orij;iiial  plnii,  niiil  would  only  he  iicccHttary  in  tlir  iiiNtrtu  tioii  of 
pii|iiU,  I  ruliii(]iii»li(Ml  it.  'I'lic  imiut;!*  in  coinmoii  ihu  ninong  tlio 
Kiiropcaii  initioiH  and  ournelvoH  will  answer  ^iifllriiMitly  well, 
willi  the  cxce|>tion,  perhaps,  of  hhcIi  as  our  6\  //,  IT,  and  F  ,* 
which  might  he  called  liy  names,  that  would  more  iuiuiedialely 
siii^i^est  to  the  learner  the  respecti\e  poweix  of  those  lettern,  than 
is  (lone  by  (heir  present  denoniinatiouH  ;  thus  thu  letter  (*  instead 
of  being  called ^rr,  might  have  the  name  of  ^/irr,  which  Eliot  uttud 
to  give  it  ',*  //  might  lake  the  (lermau  appellation  ha  or  hnii  ; 
]y  might  he  culled  uwe,]  as  Eliot  also  named  it  ;  and  V  might  he 
called  I/O  or  i/a.  Perhaps,  t.io,  some  suitable  appellations  may  bo 
wanted  for  the  compound  char.icters  x//,  tah,  Ace.  to  give  the 
learner  some  idea  of  their  powers.  But,  for  the  reasons  above 
mentioned,  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter  upon  lh|>  consideration 
of  ihirf  subject. 

1  now  6ul>join  in  one  view  the  proposed  Indian  ,ilphabpt,  in 
the  following  Table  ;  in  which, the  first  List  contains  the  common 
letters  of  our  alphabet,  as  fur  us  it  seems  practicable  to  adopt 
iheoi  ;  the  next  contains  the  class  of  nanul8  ;  after  these  fuU 
low  «!ic  diphthongs  i  and  lastly,  a  iiunil)er  ai  co':f> pound  char- 
aciev;',  which  will  be  of  more  or  less  frequent  UbC  iu  diflercut 
dialects. 


Indian  (iram. 


p.  3. 


t  "  \Ne  cill  ;r  (u-eej  because  our  uanic  givctli  no  Lint  of  the  'power  of  iti 
snutul."    Indiuii  Gram.  p. 'J. 


'i^;v 


\> 


I    li 


fndinn  Lans^unsfp^  in  *VoHA  America. 


M 


I 
I 

i 

10 

le 
ve 
oa 

in 

kUtl 

iipt 
ruU 

:cat 


sf  tU 


TAHLli  OF  THK  ALl'HAHET. 

A  »»  in  tlif  Ennlisli  wiiuU,fin;J'ather,  &c.  (Hut  scu  the  JS^ote  oit  the  Voweln,  p.  fiT.) 

H  im  ill  Kll^li!lll,  Krciicii,&c. 

1)  (till'  Sllllll'.  ) 

K  an  in  (lie  Kiit;li))li  word  there  f  and  also  kliort  «■,  •»  in  mcf,  &c. 

K  UN  in  Kti^listli,  jScc. 

U  Kll^li«ll  g  liai'il,  as  in  gamr.  gone,  Ike. 

li  un  Uitpiratiiin,  hh  in  Hti(;liali.  &.r. 

I  UN  in  marine,  inuchiiie,  (or  KiigliHli  ee)  ;  and  oIho  short  ''  in  him, 

K  UH  in  Kngliiili. 

1.         Cthe  Ha  me.  J 

Al        ( Ihe  name  J 

N         Clhi-  same. ) 

U  Eni^liitli  long  It,  as  in  roft^  :  mid  aUo  tlio  o  in  mme^  timong^  above,  &c.  wliicii  is 

r(|uivaiL'nt  to  the  Engliith  »hortu  in  ntfr| tun, &c.      (Hut  sue  tiic  remarks  on 

thin  letter,  n.  30.) 

i'  as  ill  Kiiglish,  &.c. 
K         (  the  same.  J 

S^  as  ill  Knglish  at  the  beginning  of  a  word. 

T  as  ill  l';ii^li>.li,  &,c. 


V  Kn;;lisli  uit,  liotli  long  arid  short  ;   French  "U 

V  Kn^lish  r.  Oennnn  w,  Uussiuii  b,  Modern  ti 
>V    as  in  Knftlish  ;  French  ou. 


A 

» 

E 
» 


5 


» 


Ureck  fi. 


y     as  in  the  Enijlish  wurdn,  yit,  you,  &c. 
X     as  in  English,  &.c. 


NAMAl.S. 

■s  in  ang  (sounding  the  n  itself,  as  in  father.)  But  for  a  hotter  description  of 
this  and  the  other  iiasuls,  see  the  ^'ote  un  the  JS'nsaU.  p.  fiO. 

iimg,  ns  in  eijng  (pronouncing;  tiie  eij  as  in  they  ,)  and  s//oi7,  as  in  tiie  word 
ginm-ng  ;  Portusjjuese  em  fiiiiil.     (."^ee  JShle  on  the  JWsal'i,  p.  39.) 

longyt>*\\\  eengi  and  short  as  in  tn^  ;  Portuguese  ini  tinal.  {^tc  ^''ote  on  the 
J\'asnl<,  p.  .SO.) 

/o>/;r.  ii.-i  m  oivng  (soundins  the  ow  as  in  niim  ;)  Frencii  on  ;  Piirtiiguese  om 
fiiiiil.  'I'lii-^  chiiracter  will  ;ilso  he  used  for  o  short  nasalised,  which  is  very 
neai'lv  the  snoic  wilh  ong  in  amnr.g,  ns  this  latter  is  e(|uiviilent  to  u.ig  in 
liing^  &.C  Sec  It'alker*  Diet,  I'rinciiiles,  J\l'o.  IC.>.  See  also  the  .Aok'.s 
on  the  vowel  ft,  and  on  the  JVasals,  p.  38,  39. 

as  in  'long  ;   I'ortii^ue/.c  /iin  linul. 

'l"o  these  shoulil  he  adilcil  u  character  for  the  nasal  ainig  or  ong  which  corres- 
ponds to  our  o  in  /"or,  n«r,  S(c.  And,  as  I  have  proposed  (in  p.  38,)  to  denote  this 
vocal  sound,  wlioii  not  niisnliseU,Uy  air,  ho  it  wouhl  he  most  strictly  ciinriirnm- 
ble  to  my  plan,  to  denote  tlie  same  vocal  sound,  when  it  is  naialis»d,  hy  a'r  or 

flic.    But  perliaps  tlie  letter  a  itself,  witli  the  cedilla  (n)  may  he  used  witliuut 

inconvenieiiro  for  tliis  hroad  nasal  simnd,  and  we  may  still,  in  the  coniiiioii 
vowels,  reserve  the  simple  «  to  lienofe  the  sound  it  has  in  the  wend  fnllier, 
and  not  the  sound  of  an;  For  it  nwiy  he  found,  tli:it  tlu'  lii-l  n.i^al 
goiiiid  in  tliis'l'uMe  is  not  cominoii  in  the  Indian  lungiiaLies ;  in  whiili  case  it 
would  be  best  to  use  the  simple  a  for  the  bruad  nasal  here  mentioned. 


If 


Mil 


■  \"  li 


I';     i'f 


I  ig 


I 


^6  Mi:  Piclcering  ou  iho  Orthop'aphy  of  the 

TABLE  OF  TMK  AIJMlAHi:'!"  CONTINUED. 

DIIMITHONG?;. 

\i     Kiii;li>l)  i  in  pine. 

Av    Ktiglisli  Off  ill  hott;  now,  &.c,  and  .•!;  i:i  uur. 

ID      ^;Il^liBll  «  in  /n/iv  ;   Fu-iirli  ion, 

YU    to  be  used  at  tlie  btyMtiins.  as  in  may  lu-  in  the  middle,  of  words. 

ADDiriON  VI-  CtlNSON ANTS. 

D/ii,    Kn^lisli  J  and  ilfs,  \nj;,1)ii- ;  ItimicIi  '/r. 

as  in  tlie  Knglisii  w  ords,  this,  Ihot ;  tlie  t  of  the  Modern  Greeki?, 

F  ,s;li^li  Is  in  tlie  ptopi-r  name  /'.'fsv  ;  (Jertiiiui  and  Italian  z  .■ 
oeiinaii  r  ln'tciic  tlif  vowels  i'  itml  i  ;  I'olish  c  Itrlore  all  tlie 
vowi'ls :  Kus'Sian  Vsi.  'I'lic-i'  I'otii-  (■.mi|)oiiMt>*  Iteinnneaily 
alil.f  (a<  Mr.  Dii  I'onci'iiti  jiistiv  oliserves  to  nic)  the  var  of  the 
writer  niii>t  dirtct  him  wiiicli  to  use,  as  the  rt-spectivo  couso- 
narits  [iredomiiiate. 

Sec  k'h  below. 

(.z,  or  c.s,  Ktiglish  .v  in  e.vamiili',  exact, 

iiv,  English  irli  in  what,  ii-heii. 

r-H,  guttuial,  like  (he  (iieok  ;, ;  Spanish  .r.  ^.  .and  / ;  fierman  r/i  ;  Dutcli 
fXti.  I  have  in  the  jiiecedinj;  paper  i;ivpn  (lie  pn-ffrence 
to  kit  'or  the  puipo«e  of  e\pr('s^lnu  tliis  ^utttiiHl  sound  :  hut 
gli  prop  unied  as  the  Irinh  ^n  in  tiieir  name  lirit>j;heda,  Stc. 
mav  he  better  ii\  tertaiei  cases  where  this  i>Htt'iral  p;»rtakes 
more  of  (lie  flat  sound,  f,  than  of  tli>  !<harp  o»e,  k  It  inav  he 
oh^ei  ved.  (hat  ;r/i  lias  been  alicady  used  ii    _jine  of  tl'.u  boi  k 


D.I,  DSii,  or 

DS,  I)Z  ;    T8,  TZ, 


CiH 


irintc'  fur  the  use  of  the  Indians. 


l:s. 


Enal 


ish  .X-  in  ma.rtm,  exrycise. 


KSII, 


,vt 


c'imple.riiiii  ;  .r;(  in  lit.Mirif.     The  formation  of  (hi<  cnmhi- 
liut  as  the   sounil    is  aetuallv  often 


III 


naMon  would  Im'  obvious 


Kw  Enslisli  (lu. 


u«cd    in 
notice  if. 


Delaware  laii"ua"e,  I  have  thought    it  "best  to 


lY  or  LI 


NY  or  NI, 


1  / 


TSH, 


\v  r. 


as  in  the  Eni^lisli  word  sliihiartl :  French  I  mouillre,  Spanish 
//,  Portuguese  th    Iialian  y/  tieloie  i. 

as  in  (he  Enirlish  proper  name  /iiiNyan,  antl  (li>'   words  union, 
iipiniiiii,  &c. 

in  the  Kiij^lish  word  thin  ;  Greek  3. 

See  rfs  above. 

Enjjiish  rh.  In  chair  :  Spanish  r/i  in  much  ;    Italian   e  before 
fan'.!  i;  German /■.c/i  ;   Hus  Ian   i|. 

an  i'i  the  Delaware  language. 

as  s  ii.   plmsure  ;   Fiencli  aud  Portuguese  j  ,•  PoIi»h  *,  with 


a  cuiianu  over 


't(i; 


•I' 

"4! 


Indian  Languages  in  J^Torth  America, 
NOTE  ON  THE  VOWELS. 


37 


In  coiisidciing  the  several  letters  by  whicli  the  vowel  sounds  are  represented,  both 
in  our  own  atiil  otlier  laii}ju»g,es,  it  will  he  peiceivetl,  that  each  otlhein  way  betaken 
as  n^presentint;,  not  a  sinj;le  soiinil.  hut  a  sevieti  of  siiu'.nis,  vtfhicli  series  will  '•e  ninre  or 
less  extensive  according  to  the  genius  of  diileient  laii^ua;>es ;  and  it  will  he  further  ol)- 
sctved,  that  each  serie:)  gradually  runs  into  the  adioiiiin;^  series  (if  \\k  may  so  speak) 
by  such  slij^lit  and  delicate  modifications,  that  it  is  u  matter  of  no  small  ditT'culty,  in 
many  cases,  to  decide  in  what  |)art  of  any  one  seiies  we  should  drop  the  vovvel  char- 
acter with  wliirb  ue  hei;in,and  take  another  to  co?>tinue  the  sounds  of  the  next  series; 
in  other  wci (Is,  it  is  nut  asy  to  determine,  at  what  point  one  series  ends  and  another 
be^jins.  For  example  ;  if  we  take  the  letter  n,  we  may  assume  the  sound  winch  it  has 
in  the  word/«//i('r,  as  the  middle  point  of  a  series,  the  whole  of  which,  ('le^inning  with 
liic  lirnad  a  m  /"n// ami  ending  with  the  narrow  or  slender  n  inj'ate')  we  Jeuoto  in  Ei:;x- 
lish  by  this  one  character,  thus:  fall — v\h — kat — fatk— 

and  these  arc  all  the  sounds  in  tliis  series,  which  philologists  designate  in  our  own  Ian> 
guage  by  this  one  letter.  Uut  if  we  extend  our  view  to  other  languages,  we  shall  liiid 
varifuis  intermediate  sounds  between  the  two  extremes  of  lliii,  same  scries;  for  exam- 
ple, between  the  sounds  >.I  our  a  in  fall  and  in/nr,  we  find  in  the  French  language,  the 
d  ill  ndle,  mate,  &c.  which  can  only  be  described,  on  pa|><:r,  as  a  sound  between  our  two, 
and  which  is  seldom  attended  to  by  foreigners  in  speaking  French.  Now.  if  we  should 
minutely  examine  a  number  ol  languages,  and  should  eiide.ivour  to  arrange  accurately 
in  one  projTfssion  all  the  vowel  sounds  belonging  to  this  series,  we  should  doubtless 
di!>covei  in  those  languages  many  other  slight  modifications  intervening  between  'lie 
dittere"t  members  ot  our  English  series.  As,  however,  wt  cannot  accustom  our  •  irs 
familiarly  to  distinguish,  nor  our  organs  of  speech  to  utter  with  precision,  all  tuese 
slighiiy  (liH'eiing  sounds,  L.J  we  need  no  distinctive  characters  to  reprexcnt  them  to  the 
eye,  but  it  will  be  suflicient  in  practice  to  have  characters  for  the  principal  sounds  (as 
we  n.av  call  them)  in  each  series  ;  just  as  in  the  prismatic  series  of  colours,  «e  content 
oui selves  with  a  few  nam>^s  to  denote  one  principal  shade  of  each  colour,  without 
fruitlessly  attempting  to  devise  terms  of  ibemetical  nicety,  to  describe  the  innumera- 
Lie  shailes  on  eitiicr  side  of  the  principal  one  from  which  we  set  out. 

If  we  now  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  series  above  denoted  by  w2,  we  find  on  one  side 
of  it  a  serie*  vhich  we  denote  by  the  letter  0,and  on  the  other  side,  a  series  which  we 
denote  by  the  letter  E;  in  the  former  we  begin  with  the  sound  of  o  in  worn,  which  might 
be  writte  1  with  uu  or  aw  (or  with  a  alone,  if  we  bad  been  i  ccustoined  to  write  this  word 
with  that  letter,  as  we  do  the  word  war)  and  then  we  proceed  to  the  sound  whith  it  has 
in  more,  till  we  arrive  at  that  which  it  has  in  move  ;  which  point  may  be  considered, 
praciically  speaking,  as  forming  the  end  of  one  series  and  the  beginning  of  another, 
■which  is  represented  by  the  letter  U ;  and  these  twv  contiguous  extienies  arc  sometimes 
represented  by  o  and  sometimes  by  n,  that  is,  our  oo.  If  we  now  lake  the  other  side  of  the 
gei  ies,  represtnteJ  as  above  by  Ji,  and  set  out  from  the  sour.d  which  that  lette>  has  in  the 
vvohI  /lite,  we  eater  upon  a  series,  of  which  the  letter  E  may  be  called  the  re|iiesenta- 
tivc,  beginning  wiili  its  sound  in  the  word  ; .  ;,  wliicli  is  the  shm't  sound  of  a  \i\Jate  ; 
and  this  series,  proceeding  impcrceptiblj  through  various  gruitations,  at  length  vanishes 
in  tlie  simple  une(|uivocai  sound  ol >p,  '.vhicii  toroign  nations  denote  by  the  third  vow- 
el, (.     The  fulluwi.ig  labl?  will  perhaps  make  these  remarks  more  intelligible  : 

Series  of  the  letter  A  : 

fA"         .A 

Series  of  O:  ^^^'^  *     ""  fAtb  Series  of  E: 

. ^ ^  mOrn  thEue  f  I '^  ■  ■     '        — 


mOhe 
mOvB 

uU LK,  &C. 


mOhn 


•  iiEuf 


TIlEsE 

marIne,  Jcc. 


•MiHMIi 


.)S 


Mr,  Pickering  on  the  Orthography  of  the 


\  i;i 


!-  r 


In 


Nnw  ill  writing  tli«  Indian  l.ii]mi;im's,  't  will  ol'teii  he  found  extremely  difRcuU  to  de- 
cide in  eaci)  scries  of  the  vDMi'l  Sduiids,  to  vvhitt  extent  iiii  eiicli  side  of  the  piincipal  or  mid- 
dle point  (as  1  liave  called  it)  we  siiall  use  the  same  vowel  chiiractcr,  or  when  we  shall 
liave  recmitse  to  the  letter  wliieli   is  the  rei)reseiitative  of  the  next  adjacent  series. 

Kroin  these  consiilerations  in  the  case  of  the  vowel  .'},  thouj^li  we  have  no  diiViciilty 
in  u^in:;  it  to  denote  the  sound  of  a  in/'fir,  yvt  when  we  proceed  in  the  series  to  the  full 
broad  sound  which  it  lias  \ufiill,  we  icel  a  repu;;nance  (nlisin^  from  old  liahits  in  our 
own  laiiiiua'.;e)  to  deiiotinsi  that  sound  hy  the  siii;;l('  vowel,  and  are  rather  inclined  to 
expM'!»s  it  hy  au  orrtfc.  If  it  slmulij  he  tliouf;ht  that  it  niii«litl)e  denoted  hy  o  (as  in /or) 
it  will  lie  ohvious,  tliat  this  would  only  i)e  fhrowiiiji  the  same  dirticulty  into  another  f.e- 
rics,  and  we  sliuuld  then  have  to  decide  ajjain,  how  far  the  letter  o  shall  he  employed  in 
that  series,  on  earh  side  of  its  principal  sound  off*  in  r?i«rf.  iNow  this  hroad  souii'.I  (air) 
tliougli  found  in  the  Kuropeai,  lannua^es  in  not  coniioonly  repreuenfeil  in  them  by  the 
letter  .i;  and  therefore  foreifjners,  who  should  attempt  to  read  any  Indian  language,  in 
■w'-icli  the  simple  n  was  employed  to  denote  the  sound  aw,  would  inevitably  he  ll•I^led, 
and  pronounce  the  a  in  fntner.  It  has  therefore  seemed  to  mc  better,  in  an  alphabet  de- 
si;;iied  for  general  use,  to  empli.y  aw  to  denote  this  hroad  sound,  and  to  reser"  e  the 
single  letter  a  to  dent.le  its  common  foreign  sound,  as  in  faHiiT.  I  should  use  aw  and 
not  au,  l)ecause  the  latter  has  already  the  established  power  of  a  ilitihthiini;  in  the  foreign 
langiiajje?, equivalent  to  our  diphthong  oir  in  tvw,  how,  H  '-.  but  •( ,  being  a  coinhinatiun 
nut  in  common  use,  would  attract  the  attention  of  the  Tc  iitn  .^r  as  a  new  cliarac- 
tor,  find  .vould  not  l<'ad  hiinintu  error.  Mr.  I)u  I'oiic  '  t  \  .  •uh  reflection,  pre- 
fers Using  n  alone  for  the  sound  of  nir,  and  then  delisting  tlie  sound  of  a  \u  father  by 
the  diphthong  »>.  His  opinion  much  diminishes  the  confidence  I  have  had  in  my  own  ; 
but  as  my  plan  was  founded  upon  the  idea  of  taking  the  cummon  Kurupean  sounds  of  the 
vowels  as  the  basis  of  tlie  aljihabet,  I  lia\e  tlioii;.',lit  it  would  be  too  gi eat  a  departure 
from  it.  if  I  KJiuuld  give  to  the  vowel  a  uiiv  other  'ban  surli  coinmon  sound. 

It  will  be  observed,  iliat  I  have  employed  the  Ivtter  O  as  the  representative  of  two 
sr.unds  ;  that  is,  the  /on^  sound  of  o  in  robe,  lone,  diC.  im\  the  short  !40und  of  u  (as  we 
term  it  in  l-'.n;;lish)  in  ru6,  tui),  &c. ;  which  latte.  sound,  as  appears  in  the  I  able, 
We  often  ileiiote  in  Knglish  by  oalso  :  asin  the  wonls  nmoii";',  afrinv.  kc.  In  confor- 
mity with  this  Use  of  the  simple  character  o,  I  have,  in  the  Table  of  .Vasii/.<i,  eiiiploved 

the  same  letter  also  with  a  cedilla  (o)  to  denote  both  the  long  nasal  owiig  (French  on) 

and  the  s/iort  nasal  which  we  hear  in  union^, /lunger,  &.c.  Those  persons,  who  bave 
not  hail  occasion  to  analyze  the  sounds  of  our  language  and  to  remark  how  often  wk 
represent  the  same  soutn's  'ly  diH'erent  characters, and  vice  r, .  sd,  are  not  aware  how  a'lt 
the  ear  is  to  he  ini?led  by  the  eye  ;  or,  in  other  words, how  apt  we  are  to  jm.j^e  of  vc  cal 
souiplsby  the  written  rhara'-ters  which  we  are  accustomed  to  einpi.  y  in  lepresenting 
iliem:  and  such  persons  ma\,  perhaps,  from  the  force  ul  habit,  feel  a  liltl»'  -efH^nancc  to 
denoting  by  the  sitigle  letter  O,  two  sounds  which,  in  our  own  langua-  ■  >.v»=  imve  been 
used  to  consider  as  evscntially  diHereiit  from  each  other  and  to  exprt.  i.  '  .I'-iril,  by 
the  two  diRt-rent  characters  o  and  M.  A  carefti!  comparison,  hoi\ 'v  .  o.  ti  "bc  two 
"owtd  sounds,  under  variouN  comi.iiiatiunsof  the  consonants,  will  sho'v  '.  .at  /"if  tlo  not 
ditVer  so  mateiially  .is  our  various  modes  of  representing  them  might  lea>'  '  «  •<»  sup. 
pose;  buto'i  the  contrary,  tlia,  their  principal  diiTereiice  is  in  their  length  or  (pi',..tity  } 
while  in  respect  toi^uu/i^i/,  thedift'erence  between  them  (to  apply  the  language  of  another 
licience)  inuv  be  almost  said  to  be  less  than  any  assignanle  one,  and  'berelore  they  may 
wcli  enough  he  denoted  by  the  same  letter.  In  addition  to  the  proof  we  have  of 
I'lis  close  resemlilance,  from  an  exaininution  (d' our  own  language,  we  see  also  very 
stroiii^  evidence  of  it  in  the  case  id  foreign  rs  w  hen  attempting  to  speak  our  language  ; 
for  they  constantly  express  our  short  u  by  0  ;  as  for  example,  in  our  word  /»m^  which 
they  would  write  W, and  would  pioiiouncc  We.    If,  however,  any  person,  who  ni»y 


.iii 


Indian  Languages  in  JSTorth  ,S.meriea. 


39 


wish  fo'mlopt  the  |)roposeil  Indian  alphabet,  shnulil  still  fuel  a  rcluctanrfi  in  employing 
tlie  li-lter  «(even  wilh  a  distinctive  mark  as  mentioned  in  pp.  lo— 1j)  lor  tlie  puipo^e 
of  ileni>tin{r  this  short  Hoiind  of  it,  I  know  of  no  method  ofobviatinj^  the  diliicnlty  (con- 
sistently uilli  the  plan  of  the  aljihiilivt)  except  by  havinj;  recourse  to  a  new  clinracter  ; 
and  in  that  case  I  have  thon!;ht  that  it  mi^bt  be  formed  from  the  same  letter  o,  by 
iiiakiiii;  a  8m..ll  opening;  ill  the  upjjer  part  of  it  in  this  manner,  ().  This  character 
would  sulliciently  resemble  both  o  and  u  to  he  easily  retained  in  the  memory,  and 
would,  moreover-,  occasion  no  embarrassment  in  printin<r  the  Indian  lan<'uages  ;  for 
tiiose  printers,  who  may  not  be  provideil  with  types  expressly  made  for  the  purpose, 
niiiiht  easily  form  this  cbaiacfcr  out  of  a  coniinon  type,  by  merely  cuttini;  out  a  small 
portion  of  an  o  (thus,  :/)  which  would  answer  the  put  pose.  The  otdy  objection  to  this 
would  be  the  general  one,  the  inconvenience  of  multiplying  new  characters  ;  upon 
wbicb  point  I  b.ive  ma<le  some  remarks  in  pa;;e  33  of  this  Kssay.  b\n-  further  remaks 
on  the  subject  of  the  letter  O  see  /TK/A-cr's  lUcliunavy,  I'riuciiiles,  No.  G7  and  165. 

The  .V«S(i/s.  Tlie  description  of  the  JS'asaU,  in  the  preceding  Table,  by  the  syl- 
lables aiigyeenss  ^c.  is  to  be  considered  merely  as  a  rude  approximation  to  their  true 
sounds.  Those  persons  who  are  acquainted  with  the  French  lanj;uas;e  will  need  no 
description  of  them  ;  those  w'-..i  are  not,  may  jiossibly  have  a  more  just  conception  of 
them  by  carefully  attending'  .o  a  class  of  Knglisli  words,  in  which  the  nasal  is  followed 
by  the  consonants  g,  or  k\  or  c  hard  ;  as  in  linger,  thinking,  uncle,  !kc.  If  we  divide 
one  of  these  words  a  little  dilferently  from  our  usual  method  of  spelling  them,  the  true 
nasal  sound  will  become  distinctly  perceptible.  The  word  linger,  fur  example,  is  usu- 
ally divided  into  two  syllables,  tiie  sounds  i)f  which  we  shouhl  express  separately,  thus 
iing-ger  ;  new  in  pronouncing  the  word  in  that  manner,  as  soon  as  we  arrive  at  the 
end  of  the  first  syllal)le,  the  tongue  is  perceived  to  touch  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  and 
we  then  distinctly  hear  the  sound  of  our  F-nglish  ng  :  But  if,  instead  of  thus  fully  pro- 
nouncing the  whole  of  tlie  syllabic,  we  prolon>;  tbe  indistinct  sound  which  is  formed 
the  moment  before  the  g  is  uttered,  and  do  not  allow  tbe  tongue  to  touch  the  roof  of 
the  mouth,  we  shall  have  the  short  nasal  sound  i  in  the  Table  ;  and   if  we  go   through 

the  sa.ne  process  again,  only  giving  the  vowel  t  its  long  foreign  sound  (like  our  ee) 
we  shall  have  the  Ions  nasal  sound  of  the  same  character  t.     And  in  a  similar  manner 

we  may  form  the  other  nasal  sounds  in  the  Table.  For  further  observations  on  the 
nasal  sounds,  iu>e  lyalker^s  Uictionanj,  under  the  word  £iicore,  and  also  his  Princi- 
ples, No.  381  and  408 

In  connexion  with  the  subject  of  the  nasals  it  -Aill  not  be  uninteresting  to  refer 
to  a  curious  remark  of  an  ancient  writer  upon  the  subject  of  the  letter  ./V  he- 
foie  (i  01  C,  in  the  /.a/iri  language.  'Tiic  remark  is  to  be  found  in  Aulas  Gellius 
(lib.  xix  '.  14.)  who  cites  it  from  JVigidius  ;  and  itshows  very  clearly  the  Roman.pro- 
nuiiciai  of  the  letters  )ig  together,  while  at  tbe  same  time  it  indicates,  that  the  letter 
c  (neing  pron(mnced  like  A)  when  pieccdeil  by  n  coalesces  with  the  «  just  as  g  does  ;  as 
is  the  case  v\itli  c  hard  in  many  Knglisb  words  :— •  Inter  literam  A'et  G  est  alia  vis  ; 
ut  III  nomine  anguis  et  angaria  ct  ancurtp.  i;t  increimt.  et  incurrit  ct  ingenuus.  In 
oinnihus  enim  his,  non  verum  .^'*,  sod  adulteriuum  ponitur;  nam  JSI"  non  esse  lingua 
indicio  est ;  nam,  si  ea  litera  esset,  lingua  fialatum  langeret.^'' 

CORRECTION. 

After  the  srth  and  sath  pages  were  printed,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  expressed  acme 
doubts  respecting  the  Russian  orthograpliy  of  the  word  h'amtshatka,  which  he  gave 
me  from  recollection  only  ;  and  1  now  find,  upon  inquiry  of  a  Russian  gentleman  v.i 

Boston,  that  the  name  is  written  in  that  langua^je  KUMl|UIIlk,U>  which  would 
be  in  English  K'umchatka  or  h'amtslMtka. 


I 


I  n',ii 


i 


4   i 


ff     * 


APPENDIX. 

Account  of  Father  Rale's  MS.  Indian  Dictionary. 

I  I'-'-e  thought  it  would  not  be    uiiinterrhtin;;;,  and  might  be  of  some  use,  to  give 
inthixf    •  .'lort  bibliographical  account  of  the  valuable  Manuncnpt  Oictionary 

of  the  wibnu  iguage  mentioned    in  p.  12  of  the    preceding  paper.     The  author 

of  it.  Father  Sebastian  Hdle  (m  Hasles,  for  the  name  is  written  both  ways)  was 
one  of  the  Jesuit  Mi!i<iionaties,  and  came  to  New  Kngliiiid  in  the  year  H'iB'J.  He 
resided  with  the  Indians  principally  at  a  settlement  called  A'Vfrrif/^tcoct  (which  he 
calls  JVanrantsouah  J  on  the  river  k'enneheck,  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  wa» 
killed  in  a  battle  between  the  Indians  and  Knglish  in  irC4.  A  short  Imt  interest- 
ing memoir  of  this  able  missionary  was  lately  published  by  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  M. 
Harris,  D.LI,  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Cullecticms,  vol.  viii.  Second  Series,  p. 
250.  In  the  same  volume  will  be  found  copies  of  some  of  his  letters,  with  other  pepers 
respecting  him,  which  I  transcribed  from  ihe  originals  deposited  in  the  archives  of 
Massachusetts  ;  among  them  is  a  very  spirited  manifesto,  in  French,  from  various 
tribes  of  Eastern  Indians  against  the  Provincial  Government  of  Massachusetts, 
probably  written  by  //d/?  himself.     Other  letters  of  hi.",  and  an  account  of  his  death, 

vill  be  found  in  that  valuable  work,   well  known  among  the   learned,  under  the 

title  of  I^ttres  Edijiantes  et    Curimaes  (published    in    26   volumes,  l2mo.)  which 

contains  Letters  or  Reports  of  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  in  various  parts  of  the  world : 

.See  vol.  vi.  p.  127. 

The  M.**.  is  a  quarto  volume  and  in  the  hand-writing  of  Rdle  himself.      On  the 

tirst  leaf  is  the  following  note  : 

"  1691.  II  y  a  un  an  que  je  suis  parmi  les  sauvages,  je  commence  a  inettre  en 

ordre  en  forme  de  dictiunnire    les  mots  que  j'apprens.*'     Immediately   below  this 

there  is,  in  au  old  hbud-writing,  the  following : 


.^uiiK.-;-' 


■v^mi 


"I 


Indian  Languages  in  Mrth  America. 


41 


' . 


"  Taken  after  the  fight  at  Norriilgwock  among  Father  Ralle's  Papers,  and  given 
by  the  late  Col.  Heallt  to  Elisha  Cooke,  Ksq. 

Dictionary  of  the  Norridgcwalk  Language." 
The  volume  consists  of  two  parts,  the  first  of  whicii  is  a  general  IHdionary 
of  the  language  in  French  and  Indian.  Thin  part  consists  of  205  leaves  (as  they 
are  numbered)  about  one  (juartcr  part  of  which  have  writing  upon  botii  sides,  and 
the  remainder,  upon  one  side  only.  The  pages  arc  divided,  though  not  witii 
regularity  tiiruughout,  into  two  columns  ;  (he  first  of  French,  and  the  second  of 
Indian,  containing  each  about  twenty  five  lines.  The  i>econd  part  of  the  volume 
consists  of  twenty  five  leaves,  almost  all  written  upon  botii  sides,  and  has  tliis 
Latin  title—"  Parliculm."  In  this  part  the  Indian  words  are  placed  first,  and 
the  author  gives  an  account  of  the  partidei*,  making  his  explanations  sometimes 
in  Frencli  and  sometimes  in  Latin. 

From  a  comparison  which  I  have  made  of  several  words  of  the  language  now 
spoken  by  the  Penobscot  Indians  (as  wo  call  them)  who,  at  the  present  time, 
oacupy  a  small  territory  on  the  river  Penobscot,  it  appears  to  be,  as  we  should 
naturally  expect,  exactly  .'he  same  with  that  of  Hale's  Dictionary.  A  few  years 
ago  one  page  nf  this  Dictionary,  containing  the  Indian  numerals,  was  published  in 
our  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  vol.  x.  p.  137;  but  a  very  natural  mis- 
take, either  of  the  printer  or  of  the  transcriber,  runs  through  this  extract,  in  con- 
stantly printing  nit  instead  of  aii.  Tliis  error  probably  arose  from  the  uncommon 
use  of  the  dieer-jsis,  which  is  here  put  over  a  consonant  (N)  instead  of  a  vowel  as 
is  the  practice  in  other  languages.  Uile  seems  to  have  used  the  diaeresis  thus,  in 
order  to  point  out  when  the  letters  an  were  not  to  have  the  nasal  sound  whicii 
they  hail  in  the  Frcncii  language. 

So  copious  a  dictionary,  compiled  a  century  ago  by  a  man  of  acknowledged 
abilities  and  learning,  and  wiio  had  resided  more  than  thirty  years  among  tlie 
Indians,  is  one  of  the  most  important  documents  now  existing,  relative  to  the 
history  of  the  North  American  languages;  and  measures  ought  to  he  taken  with- 
out loss  of  time,  either  under  the  direction  of  the  University  or  of  the  American 
Academy,  to  eH'cct  the  publication  of  it,  before  any  accident  happens  to  the  manu- 
script. The  Li'i^isiature  of  our  own  State  would,  without  doubt,  be  fully  sensii)le 
of  the  importance  of  publishing  it,  and  would  lend  its  aid  in  making  provision  for 
tlic  expense  of  printing  in  a  manner  becoming  the  Government,  a  work  which 


/ 


I. /I 


/  i:] 


J- :  ■'! 


i  \    U.  ii 


■'    iJ 


■i  J!.. 


.^^.lijii^M 


4» 


Mr.  Ficli-erim;  on  the  Indian  Langnugen. 


the  public  has  a  i.eculiar  li-ht  to  expect  (ion,  (I,,.  State  of  MassachuHctts.  Our 
hrethre.i  iti  I'o.uisylvania  have  rocenflv  (listiiig.iishrd  themselves  hy  their  valua- 
hle  publications  relative  to  the  Indians.  «hich  I  have  nuMitioncI  in  the  preceding 
paper,  and  uhicl.  nia.v  be  said  to  lorn^  an  era  in  our  .imevu-nn  Ite^fnyche.,.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  (bat  our  own  State,  winch  may  justly  clai,n  the  .M.-r.t  ol  bavins 
already  preserved  many  invaluable  materials  for  American  bistorv,  will  not  be 
"ilbn;toletpa9san  opportunity,  like  the  present,  ol  addiM^  to'it*  reputatiuu 
abroad  by  publi.hin^  ibe  work  in  .|uestion  :  fur  we  n.av  be  assured,  tbat  nothino 


would  reflect  more  .honour 


ipon  the  country,  and  no-Jiin^  relative  to  this   conti- 


nent would  be  .vore  acceptable  to  Kuropean.,  particularly   the    Uerman  literati, 
(baa  the  publication  of  such  an  ori-iii,,l  document. 


I'OSTCHII'T. 


I  have  unuHeiitl;ina!lv   overlookrd    the    incIuI    work  of  flm   I.f..    H,.     i,     . 
more  valuable  by  an  entire  revision  ol  it.  ".n,,  ri.iutreii  stil 


> 


